Skip to main content

Full text of "Aspects of the Old Testament"

See other formats


ASPECTS 


OF 


THE    OLD    TESTAMENT 


OTTLEY 


Ojforfc 

HORACE   HART,    PRINTER   TO  THE   UNIVERSITY 


THE  BAMPTON  LECTURES,  i897 


ASPECTS 


OF  THE 


OLD    TESTAMENT 


CONSIDERED   IN   EIGHT   LECTURES 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OXFORD 


BY 


ROBERT  LAWRENCE  OTTLEY,  M.A. 

SUCCESSIVELY   STUDENT  OF    CHRIST  CHURCH    AND 

FELLOW  OF   MAGDALEN   COLLEGE 
SOMETIME   PRINCIPAL   OF  THE    PUSEY  HOUSE 


'  Caritas  congaudet  veritati.' — i  Car.  xiii.  6 


LONGMANS,    GREEN,    AND    CO. 

39   PATERNOSTER  ROW,  LONDON 
NEW  YORK  AND  BOMBAY 

1897 

\All  rights  reserved] 


bt 


THEOL. 


EXTRACT 


FROM   THE    LAST  WILL   AND   TESTAMENT 


0<F   THE   LATE 


REV.  JOHN   BAMPTON, 

CANON   OF  SALISBURY. 

— "  I  give  and  bequeath  my  Lands  and  Estates  to  the 
"  Chancellor,  Masters,  and  Scholars  of  the  University  of 
"  Oxford  for  ever,  to  have  and  to  hold  all  and  singular  the 
"  said  Lands  or  Estates  upon  trust,  and  to  the  intents  and 
"  purposes  hereinafter  mentioned ;  that  is  to  say,  I  will  and 
*'  appoint  that  the  Vice-Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Ox- 
"  ford  for  the  time  being  shall  take  and  receive  all  the  rents, 
"  issues,  and  profits  thereof,  and  (after  all  taxes,  reparations, 
"  and  •  necessary  deductions  made)  that  he  pay  all  the  re- 
"  mainder  to  the  endowment  of  eight  Divinity  Lecture  Ser- 
"  mons,  to  be  established  for  ever  in  the  said  University,  and 
"to  be  performed  in  the  manner  following  : 

"  I  direct  and  appoint,  that,  upon  the  first  Tuesday  in 
"  Easter  Term,  a  Lecturer  be  yearly  chosen  by  the  Heads 
"  of  Colleges  only,  and  by  no  others,  in  the  room  adjoining 
"  to  the  Printing- House,  between  the  hours  of  ten  in  the 
"  morning  and  two  in  the  afternoon,  to  preach  eight  Divinity 
"  Lecture  Sermons,  the  year  following,  at  St.  Mary's  in 


vi        EXTRACT  FROM  CANON  BAMPTON'S   WILL 

"Oxford,  between  the  commencement  of  the  last  month  in 
"  Lent  Term,  and  the  end  of  the  third  week  in  Act  Term. 

"Also  I  direct  and  appoint,  that  the  eight  Divinity  Lecture 
"  Sermons  shall  be  preached  upon  either  of  the  following 
"  Subjects — to  confirm  and  establish  the  Christian  Faith,  and 
"to  confute  all  heretics  and  schismatics— upon  the  divine 
"authority  of  the  holy  Scriptures — upon  the  authority  of 
"the  writings  of  the  primitive  Fathers,  as  to  the  faith  and 
"practice  of  the  primitive  Church — upon  the  Divinity  of  our 
"  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ — upon  the  Divinity  of  the 
"  Holy  Ghost — upon  the  Articles  of  the  Christian  Faith,  as 
"  comprehended  in  the  Apostles'  and  Nicene  Creeds. 

"  Also  I  direct,  that  thirty  copies  of  the  eight  Divinity  Lec- 
"ture  Sermons  shall  be  always  printed,  within  two  months 
"  after  they  are  preached ;  and  one  copy  shall  be  given  to  the 
"  Chancellor  of  the  University,  and  one  copy  to  the  Head  of 
"every  College,  and  one  copy  to  the  Mayor  of  the  city  of 
"  Oxford,  and  one  copy  to  be  put  into  the  Bodleian  Library ; 
"  and  the  expense  of  printing  them  shall  be  paid  out  of  the 
"revenue  of  the  Land  or  Estates  given  for  establishing  the 
"  Divinity  Lecture  Sermons ;  and  the  Preacher  shall  not  be 
"  paid,  nor  be  entitled  to  the  revenue,  before  they  are  printed. 

"  Also  I  direct  and  appoint,  that  no  person  shall  be  quali- 
"  fied  to  preach  the  Divinity  Lecture  Sermons,  unless  he  hath 
"  taken  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  at  least,  in  one  of  the 
"two  Universities  of  Oxford  or  Cambridge;  and  that  the 
"same  person  shall  never  preach  the  Divinity  Lecture  Ser- 
"  mons  twice." 


PREFACE 


THE  following  lectures  are  intended  rather  to  illus- 
trate than  to  defend  exhaustively  a  view  of  the  Old 
Testament  which  to  the  writer  has  long  been  habitual, 
and  which,  having  some  claim  to  be  considered  a  via 
media,  will,  he  hopes,  commend  itself  to  thoughtful 
Churchmen. 

Mr.  Goldwin  Smith  has  recently  asserted  that  those 
whom  he  calls  '  rationalistic  apologists '  do  but  tamper 
with  their  conscience  and  understanding  when .  they 
claim  that  the  Old  Testament  contains  both  a  divine 
and  a  human  element.  '  Far  better  it  is,'  he  says, 
'  whatever  the  effort  may  cost,  honestly  to  admit  that 
the  sacred  books  of  the  Hebrews,  granting  their 
superiority  to  the  sacred  books  of  other  nations,  are, 
like  the  sacred  books  of  other  nations,  the  works  of 
man  and  not  of  God  V  Such  statements  as  this,  and 
they  are  not  infrequently  made,  seem  to  challenge  the 
attention  of  loyal  Churchmen,  and  to  justify  the 
attempt  to  deal  dispassionately  both  with  the  un- 
deniable facts  that  have  been  brought  to  light  by 

1  Guesses  at  the  Riddle  of  Existence  (Essay  on  '  The  Church  and  the 
Old  Testament '),  p.  95. 


viii  PREFACE 

historical  and  critical  research,  and  with  the  theories 
which  they  are  supposed  to  support. 

In  writing  these  lectures  I  have  had  in  view  several 
different  classes  of  persons. 

There  are  those  who,  like  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith  him- 
self, imagine  that  '  High  Churchmen,  having  studied 
recent  criticism,  feel  that  there  is  a  millstone  to  be  cast 
off1.'  Speaking  for  myself,  I  am  unaware  of  any  '  mill- 
stone' other  than  the  strange  and  inveterate  miscon- 
ceptions which  are  widely  prevalent,  and  are  apparently 
shared  by  the  distinguished  essayist  himself,  respecting 
the  true  place  and  function  of  the  Old  Testament  in 
the  life  and  system  of  the  Christian  Church.  Those 
who  have  watched  the  course  of  religious  thought  on 
the  subject  will  certainly  feel  that  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith's 
strictures  on  the  honesty  and  good  sense  of  Church- 
men are  somewhat  belated  and  irrelevant.  I  say  con- 
fidently that  the  effect  of  a  more  strictly  historical 
and  scientific  study  has  been  to  enhance  the  interest, 
reverence,  and  love  with  which  we  Churchmen  regard 
the  Old  Testament.  We  deplore  the  comparative 
neglect  of  the  Bible  which  has  to  some  extent  been 
the  consequence  of  recent  unsettlement,  and  we  are 
anxious  to  enrich  others  as  we  have  been  enriched, 
by  imparting  to  them  a  point  of  view  from  which  the 
verdicts  ot  criticisms  can  be  justly  appreciated. 

It  is  a  matter  of  simple  experience  that  modern 
research  has  both  enlarged  our  insight  into  the  actual 
course  and  method  of  divine  revelation,  and  has  shed 
abundant  light  on  many  points  which  the  pre-critical 
conception  of  Hebrew  history  left  obscure  or  alto- 
gether unexplained. 

Again,  there  are  those  whose  dislike  or  suspicion  of 
the  critical  movement  has  led  them,  as  I  think,  to 

1  Op.  cit.  p.  50. 


PREFACE  ix 

minimize  the  significance  and  value  of  its  assured 
results.  The  main  defect  of  some  books  written  in 
defence  of  traditional  theories  is  that  while  they  en- 
deavour, not  without  a  measure  of  success,  to  discredit 
the  results  of  an  extreme,  one-sided,  and  rationalistic 
criticism,  they  do  not  always  appear  adequately  to 
recognize  the  importance  of  those  conclusions  which 
the  research  of  150  years  has  rendered  inevitable, 
which  sober  critics  of  every  school  practically  agree 
to  accept,  and  whicK  in  any  case  have  considerably 
modified  the  traditional  theory  of  Hebrew  history  and 
religion 1. 

My  aim  is  to  show  that  it  is  possible  to  regard  as 
conclusive  and  to  welcome  with  cordiality  many  ve/dicts 
of  the  '  Higher  Criticism,'  without  necessarily  accepting 
what  is  merely  conjectural  and  arbitrary. 

Once  more,  there  is  a  class  of  persons  to  whom 
maxima  debetur  reverentia. 

It  may  be  asked  whether  I  have  seriously  considered 
the  probable  effect  on  the  simple  faith  and  piety  of 
ordinary  Churchmen  of  statements  which  question 
cherished  beliefs,  and  may  possibly  disturb  or  en- 
danger faith  itself.  Certainly  I  recognize  with  sincere 
pain  that  certain  assumptions  and  statements  contained 
in  this  book  may  possibly  cause  disquiet  and  alarm  to 
some  devout  Christians.  But  it  is  one  of  the  diffi- 
culties of  our  present  transitional  position  that  each 
step  in  advance,  while  it  brings  relief  to  many,  occa- 
sions distress  or  even  scandal  to  some.  We  must  face 
the  inevitable  cost  involved  in  intellectual  movement. 
The  duty  of  a  teacher  is  to  weigh  the  perils  of  frank 
utterance  against  those  of  continued  silence.  On  the 

1  I  may  mention  such  typical  works  as  Prof.  Robertson's  Early  Religion 
of  Israel,  Mr.  Baxter's  Sanctuary  and  Sacrifice,  and  Prof.  Hommel's 
Ancient  Hebrew  Tradition  illustrated  by  the  Monuments. 


x  PREFACE 

one  hand,  he  may  know  of  many — clergy,  students, 
schoolmasters,  thoughtful  laymen,  highly  educated 
women  charged  with  the  religious  training  of  children, 
and  others — who  are  deeply  impressed  by  the  solidity 
and  weight  of  the  case  for  the  Higher  Criticism  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  who,  in  view  of  its  apparent 
results,  are  eagerly  looking  for  guidance  and  reassur- 
ance. On  the  other  hand,  he  is  bound  to  consider 
carefully  the  danger  of  wounding  or  scandalizing  those 
who  have  little  or  no  opportunity  of  forming  an  inde- 
pendent judgment  on  matters  of  science  or  criticism, 
and  who  cannot  be  expected  to  part  with  convictions 
that  are  indissolubly  bound  up  with  their  religious 
experience. 

In  view  of  this  difficulty,  a  man  is  justified  in  com- 
mitting himself  to  the  guidance  of  God,  and  doing  his 
best  at  once  to  aid  the  perplexed,  and  to  deal  tenderly 
with  those  whose  faith  has  been  hitherto  undisturbed. 
I  do  not  ask  any  reader  to  accept  without  due  inquiry 
the  particular  conception  of  Hebrew  history  which  has 
been  adopted  in  these  lectures ;  but  I  do  desire  to 
show  that  a  Christian  believer  need  not  cast  away  his 
faith  because  his  traditional  view  of  the  Old  Testament 
has  been  shown  to  be  inadequate  or  untenable.  And 
if  through  any  want  of  due  reverence,  caution,  or  con- 
sideration I  have  needlessly  troubled  any  devout  mind, 
I  can  only  express  my  sorrow,  and  unreservedly 
submit  what  I  have  written  to  the  judgment  of  the 
Church. 

I  must  acknowledge  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  friends 
who  have  given  me  the  benefit  of  their  counsel  and 
criticism,  especially  to  Dr.  Driver,  Dr.  Moberly,  and 
Dr.  Lock.  To  the  governors  of  the  Pusey  House  who 
granted  me  a  Term's  absence  from  Oxford,  and  to  my 
friend  Mr.  Hutton  of  St.  John's  College  who  allowed 


PREFACE 


XI 


me  the  use  of  his  house  at  Burford,  I  am  equally 
indebted.  Mr.  Rackham  of  the  Community  of  the 
Resurrection,  who  has  devoted  unsparing  pains  to  the 
revision  and  correction  of  the  proof-sheets,  has  rendered 
a  signal  service  both  to  the  writer  and  to  the  readers 
of  this  book. 

R,  L.  O. 

WlNTERBOURNE    BASSETT, 

August,  1897. 


SYNOPSIS   OF  CONTENTS 


LECTURE    I. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  AND  THE  l  HIGHER  CRITICISM.' 


The  Catholic  spirit  illustrated 

Subject  of  the  lectures  proposed 

Standpoint  from  which  it  is  approached         .... 

I.  The  belief  in  the  Incarnation 

The  Incarnation  illustrates  the  divine  use  of  media,  and 

divine  self-accommodation  to  human  capacities     . 
Analogy  of  the  Incarnation  applied  to  Scripture 

(1)  The  unity  of  Scripture 

(2)  Its  twofold  nature 

(3)  Its  self-witness 

II.  The  belief  in  Inspiration     .... 

The  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  discernible — 

(1)  In  the  formation  of  Scripture        .... 

(2)  In  the  writers  themselves 

The  meaning  of  Inspiration  to  be  ascertained  inductively 
Its  peculiar  characteristics         . 

III.  The  main  results  of  historical  criticism  assumed 
Summary  of  these  results  ...... 

Special  observations  on  the  higher  criticism — 

(1)  Historical  consistency  of  its  results 

(2)  Hindrances  to  their  acceptance    .... 

(3)  The  duty  of  deference  to  experts  .... 

IV.  Factors  determining  the  true  use  of  the  Old  Testament — 

(1)  The  authority  of  Christ 

(2)  The  spiritual  experience  of  Christians  . 

The  doctrine  of  the  Church  :  its  bearing  on  our  inquiry    . 


the 


i 

6 

ii 

12 

13 
15 
15 

17 
20 

22 

26 
27 
29 
30 
32 

33 

36 
40 

44 

46 
49 
51 


LECTURE   II. 

DIFFERENT  ASPECTS  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT. 

The  special  function  of  the  Old  Testament     . 

General  survey 


53 
55 


xiv  SYNOPSIS   OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I.  The  Old  Testament  a  history  of  redemption  ....       56 

The  story  of  the  'origins,'  its  character  and  purpose         .         .       57 
Special  features  of  redemptive  history — 

(1)  The  occurrence  of  miracle     ......       61 

(2)  The  principle  of  limitation  or  severance        ...      63 
Character  of  the  historical  narratives         .         .        .        .         -65 

II.  The  Old  Testament  the  history  of  a  progressive  revelation          .      66 

Different  views  of  the  evolution  of  the  idea  of  God    ...  67 

Effects  of  the  exodus 68 

The  foundations  of  monotheism 69 

Of  the  idea  of  holiness 72 

Of  the  idea  of  grace    ........  75 

The  continuity  of  revelation 78 

III.  The  Old  Testament  traces  the  history  of  a  covenantal  relation- 

ship         .        ;        .         .        .        .        .         .        .        .        -79 

The  divine  requirement  involved  in  it        .         .        .        .        .81 

IV.  The  Old  Testament  and  the  Messianic  hope      .         .         .        .       82 

The  idea  of  a  kingdom  of  God  or  '  theocracy  '  .        .        .        .84 

Its  history  considered         .         .         .         .        .         .        .        -85 

Its  characteristics  proclaimed  by  the  prophets — 

Universality 86 

Spirituality 87 

V.  The  Old  Testament  witnesses  to  a  divine  purpose  for  the  indi- 

vidual        89 

Growth  of  the  sense  of  individuality 90 

The  teachings  of  spiritual  experience  and  of  national  calamity  91 
The  general  arrangement  of  the  Hebrew  Bible — 

Its  correspondence  with  the  five  above-mentioned  aspects 

of  Old  Testament  theology 93 


LECTURE   III. 
THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  IN  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT. 

Analogy  of  Scripture  to  physical  nature          .        .         .        .    '    .  98 

The  Old  Testament  an  historical  book 100 

Preliminary  considerations — 

(1)  Composite  character  of  the  narratives          .        .         .  101 

(2)  Probable  results  of  archaeological  research  .        .        .105 

(3)  The  a  priori  credibility  of  miracle         ....  107 

I.  The  patriarchal  period  relatively  pre-historic         ....  109 

The  narratives  historical  in  substance lio 

(1)  A  true  picture  of  the  general  conditions  of  patriarchal 

life 113 

(2)  And  of  the  main  factors  in  Israel's  religious  develop- 

ment            115 

(3)  Element  of  idealization  in  the  Pentateuch,  its  extent 

and  characteristics 119 

The  '  priestly  narrative ':  its  character 121 

Prophetic  idealization  in  the  older  narratives     .        .        .        .125 

Considerations  which  appear  to  justify  it 128 

II.  The  Mosaic  period — 

The  work  of  Moses  that  of  a  prophet 131 


SYNOPSIS   OF  CONTENTS  XV 

PAGE 

Main  features  of  the  Mosaic  narrative 133 

(1)  They  regard  the  exodus  as  a  fundamental  fact     .         .134 

(2)  They  aim  at  exhibiting  the  character  and  requirement 

of  God 138 

(3)  They  depict  an  ideal  theocracy     .         .        .         .         .     140 

(4)  Typical  significance  of  the  narrative     .        .         .        .142 
General  reflections      .         .         .         .         .        .        .        .        .144 

III.  The  historical  books — 

The  materials  forming  their  substratum,   and   their  general 

features 145 

Three  elements  in  the  prophetic  theory  of  the  history — 

(1)  The  reality  of  grace 151 

(2)  The  importance  of  critical  epochs         .         .         .        .152 

(3)  Method  of  divine  deliverances      .         .         .         .         .154 
The  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  Israel's  history        .         .         .155 
General  summary 157 

NOTE  A.  The  patriarchal  narratives 1 60 


LECTURE   IV. 

THE  PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD. 

The  continuity  of  revelation    .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .161 

I.  General  features  of  Hebrew  revelation  considered  as  progressive     162 

The  method  justified  in  Christ 164 

Illustrations  of  the  tendency  of  Old  Testament  religion — 

(a)  In  the  sphere  of  worship 166 

The  principle  of  selection 167 

Circumcision          ........  167 

Sacrifice         .........  168 

(b]  In  the  sphere  of  ethical  ideas 170 

The  idea  of «  holiness  ' 171 

Mosaism  and  the  Decalogue          .         .         .        .         .172 

The  idea  of  personality 175 

Human  sacrifice  :  Gen.  xxii. 176 

The  slaughter  of  the  Canaanites 178 

II.  The  '  Name  '  of  God  progressively  unfolded         ....  181 

General  names,  '-£"/,  'Eloah,  'Elohim,  'El  * Elyon  ;  their  mean- 
ing and  use      ..........     183 

The  patriarchal  name,  'El  Shaddai 184 

The  name  Jahveh 185 

The  titles  Adonai  and  Jahveh  Tsebaoth 1 86 

The  Hebrew  conception  of  revelation         .         .        .        .        .187 
Theological  significance  of  the  different  titles  of  deity       .         .     189 

>El^Elohim,'Eloah^ErElyon 190 

'El  Shaddai  and  'Adonai 191 

Jehovah  (Jahveh)       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .193 

Anthropomorphic  language  in  the  Old  Testament     .        .        .194 
The  attributes  of  Jehovah 195 

(1)  '  Righteousness  '  and  '  truth ' 198 

(2)  '  Kindness  '  or  '  grace ' 199 

The  jealousy  of  Jehovah     ........     200 


xvi  SYNOPSIS   OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Jehovah  Tsebaoth 203 

The  '  fatherhood '  of  God  in  the  Old  Testament        .        .        .204 
Conclusion 205 


LECTURE   V. 

THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  AND  ITS  WORSHIP. 

The  covenant  between  Jehovah  and  Israel  inaugurated  at  Sinai   .  206 

I.  The  idea  of  the  covenant :  its  history  and  conditions    .        .        .  209 

II.  The  moral  requirement  involved  in  the  covenant         .         .        .  213 

The  Decalogue  :  its  contents  and  characteristics      .        .         .215 

(1)  Religion  the  foundation  of  personal  morality  and  social 

duty 219 

(2)  Absence  of  directions  bearing  on  worship     .        .        .  220 

(3)  Moral  symbolism  of  the  Mosaic  institutions         .        .  222 

III.  The  sanctuary  and  the  sacrifices — 

The  prophetic  idea  that  underlies  them     .        .        .        .        .  224 

The  description  of  the  tabernacle  an  idealized  sketch        .        .  226 

The  levitical  sacrifices 227 

(1)  The  sacrifices  based  on  pre-existing  customs        .        .  229 

(2)  The  attitude  of  the  prophets  towards  sacrifice      .         .  230 

(3)  Was  the  levitical  system  ever  in  actual  operation?      .  231 

(4)  The  development  of  piacular  sacrifice  ....  232 
Names  and  characteristics  of  the  different  classes  of 

sacrifice 234 

General  features  common  to  all 236 

Features  distinctive  of  each           .....  238 

IV.  Symbolic  and  typical  significance — 

Of  the  Tabernacle 247 

Of  the  sacrificial  system      .......  250 

Fulfilment  of  levitical  types  in  Christ— 

The  Burnt-offering 253 

The  Sin-offering .         .        .        .        .        .         .         .        -255 

The  Peace-offering 258 

Spirituality  of  the  Law 259 

NOTE  A.  The  symbolic  significance  of  the  Tabernacle      .        .        ,261 


LECTURE   VI. 

PROPHECY  AND  THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE. 

The  use  of  the  phrase  c  The  Law  and  the  Prophets  '      .         .        .265 
Prophecy,  the  distinctive  element  in  Hebrew  religion    .        .         .     269 
I.  The  beginnings  of  prophetism— 

An  institution  common  to  the  Semitic  tribes     ....     270 

The  work  of  Samuel  .........     272 

Elijah .     273 


SYNOFSJS  OF  CONTENTS  xvii 

PAGE 

II.  The  prophets  :  aspects  of  their  work— 

(1)  Prophetic  inspiration  :  its  character.    The  name  Nabhi  274 

(2)  The  sphere  in  which  the  gift  of  prophecy  was  exercised  277 

Function  of  the  prophets 279 

Social  and  political  conditions  of  the  eighth  century    .  281 

Social  influence  of  the  prophets 283 

Their  work  that  of  proclaiming  judgment     .        .         .  285 

(3)  The  religious  influence  of  the  prophets         .         .        .  286 
The  prophets  in  relation  to  monotheism  and  univer- 

salism 287 

The  teaching  of  Amos  :  Jehovah  the  moral  ruler  of  the 

universe     .........  288 

Hosea :  the  prophet  of  divine  love         ....  290 

Two  permanent  elements  in  the  prophetic  conception 

of  God 292 

Teaching  of  the  book  of  Jonah 293 

III.  The  Messianic  hope  :  its  gradual  growth 295 

(1)  The  promise  of  spiritual  victory — 

The  Protevangelium 296 

The  '  Blessing  of  Jacob  ' 297 

The  prophecy  in  Deut.  xviii.  15      ....  298 

(2)  The  hopes  connected  with  David's  house     .         .         .  299 

The  oracle  in  2  Sam.  vii 300 

'  Figurative  prophecy '  .         .        .         .         .         .        .  3O1 

The  Hebrew  idea  of  royalty 302 

Limitations  of  prophecy 306 

(3)  The  self-manifestation  of  Jehovah — 

'  The  day  of  the  Lord  ' 304 

A  day  of  judgment  and  of  salvation       .        .         .  305 

(4)  The  suffering  people  of  God 308 

Effects  of  calamity  on  the  Messianic  hope    .         .         .  309 

'  The  servant  of  Jehovah ' 310 

(5)  The  new  covenant 312 

Teaching  of  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel         ....  313 

(6)  The  post-exilic  prophets       ......  314 

The  apocalyptic  literature 316 

Ideal  fulfilment  of  prophecy  in  Christ  ....  318 


LECTURE   VII. 

PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT. 

Tendencies  of  the  post-exilic  age  foreshadowed  at  an  earlier  period  323 
Circumstances  which  gave  an  impulse  to  the  development  of  per- 
sonal religion       ..........  324 

The  post- exilic  age  spiritually  fruitful 328 

The  Hagiografha :  their  character  and  contents  .        .        .  329 

The  foundation  truths  of  personal  religion — 

The  idea  of  a  future  life          ........  334 

(i)  The  Law  witnesses  to   the  truth  of  man's  personal 

relation  to  God .  336 

Hebrew  conception  of  death          .         .        .        .  337 

The  dignity  of  human  nature  recognized       .         .        .  338 

b 


xviii  SYNOPSIS  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

(2)  The  anomalies  of  life  and  divine  retribution           .         .  343 

Doctrine  of  the  Law 343 

The  '  era  of  difficulties ' :  the  book  of  Job     .         .         .  346 

The  *  era  of  quiescence ' :  Ecclesiastes         .         .         .  348 

II.  The  idea  of  a  personal  providence  :  the  Psalms           .         .         .  350 

Witness    of   other  books :    Cantica,    Ruth,    Esther,    Daniel, 

Chronicles,  Ezra,  Nehemiah  .        .        .        .        .         .        •  355 

III.  The  sense  of  the  fruitfulness  of  suffering 359 

Characteristics  of  the  '  Wisdom  literature '        ....  359 

The  book  of  Job ..361 

The  book  of  Ecclesiastes 364 

Summary  and  conclusion  .        .        .     • 370 


LECTURE  VIII. 

THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY. 

The  analogy  between  the  incarnate  Word  and  Scripture       .        .  373 

I.  The  New  Testament  view  of  the  Old— 

(1)  The  Old  Testament  revelation  fragmentary.        .        .  377 

(2)  Variety  of  methods  in  which  God  manifested  Himself  378 

(3)  Rudimentary  character  of  the  old  dispensation     .        .  379 
The  New  Testament  verdict  on  the  Law       ....  380 
Unique   authority  of  the   Old   Testament   recognized    by 

Christ 381 

For  Him  there  was 'a  Bible  within  the  Bible'      .        .        .382 
Principles"  observed    by  New  Testament  writers   in   their 

employment  of  the  Old 383 

Existing  methods  of  interpretation :  Halachah^  Haggadah, 

and  Sodh 384 

Our  Lord's  employment  of  these  methods     ....  385 
The  New  Testament  exegesis  of  the  Old — 

(i)  Its  breadth  and  freedom 389 

Apostolic  use  of  Haggadak  and  Halachah   .        .        .  390 

Allegorism 392 

(ii)  Moral  purport  of  the  quotations 393 

Contrast  between  Christ  and  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  394 

(iii)  Messianic  use  of  the  Old  Testament      .         .        .        -396 

Summary 400 

II.  The  permanent  function  of  the  Old  Testament  in  the  Church     .  401 

Preliminary  questions — 

The  historical  quality  of  the  Old  Testament  narratives.        .  401 

The  existence  of  a  '  secondary '  sense 405 

(1)  The  sacramental  view  of  the  universe  .         .        .        .  406 

(2)  The  organic  relation  between  Judaism  and  Christianity  408 

1.  The  Old  Testament,  a  revelation  of  God's  nature  and  character  .  412 
The  aim  of  God's  moral  government  considered   .        .        .        .413 

Its  methods  and  laws  of  action 414 

The  place  of  suffering .         .415 

2.  The  Old  Testament  as  witnessing  to  Christ 416 

Its  Messianic  import      .        .         .        .        .         .        .        .         .417 

What  is  ideal  is  Messianic 419 


SYNOPSIS   OF  CONTENTS  xix 

PAGE 

3.  Function  of  the  Old  Testament  in  forming  and  training  character     421 
The  '  morality  of  the  Old  Testament  '- 

Theocentric 423 

And  altruistic ..........  424 

4.  The  Old  Testament  as  a  manual  for  the  spiritual  life    .         .         .  426 

5.  The  Old  Testament  as  an  instructor  in  social  righteousness          .  430 
Social  doctrine  of  the  Old  Testament — 

Not  based  on  individualism    .         .         .         .         .         .         -431 

Recognizing  moral  forces  in  social  progress   ....     432 

6.  The  Old  Testament  as  an  aid  in  New  Testament  exegesis   .         .     433 

Summary  of  the  lectures 436 

Concluding  reflections  — 

The  duty  of  individual  Christians  .         .         .         .         .  437 

Place  of  Scripture  in  the  system  of  the  Church      .         .         .     440 


ASPECTS  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT 


LECTURE    I 

All  things  are  yours. — I  Cor.  iii.  21. 

THERE  are  few  terms  the  precise  significance  of 
which  it  is  more  difficult  to  fix  than  the  word  '  catholic/ 
As  applied  to  the  Christian  Church  it  connotes  primarily 
her  world-wide  extension.  The  holy  Church  through- 
out all  the  world  doth  acknowledge  Thee.  To  the  idea 
of  extension  the  idea  of  doctrine  is  added.  The  Church 
is  '  catholic '  inasmuch  as  she  is  the  teacher  of  all 
truth  needful  for  man  in  the  conduct  and  development 
of  his  spiritual  and  moral  life  ;  she  is  the  home  of  all 
graces  and  virtues,  and  the  school  in  which  every 
variety  of  human  character  may  find  its  appropriate 
discipline  *.  But  there  is  another  sense  in  which  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  is  a  'catholic'  society:  to 
her  most  loyal  children  she  is  the  imparter  of  spiritual 
breadth,  she  fosters  a  true  catholicity  of  heart  and 
temper.  Faithfulness  to  the  mind  of  the  Church  and 
submission  to  her  discipline  has  sometimes  been  sup- 
posed, and  with  a  show  of  justice,  to  involve  hostility  to 
the  advancement  of  learning,  cramped  and  petty  views 
of  things,  and  a  one-sided  estimate  of  human  nature. 
And  yet  if  the  Church  of  God  be  the  abiding-place  of 
that  Holy  Spirit  whose  presence  brings  liberty,  and 
the  home  of  that  charity  which  rejoiceth  with  the  truth  '2, 

1  Cyr.  Hier.  Catech.  xviii.  23.    Cp.  Lightfoot  on  Ignat.  ad  Smyrn.  viii. 

2  2  Cor.  iii.  17 ;  i  Cor.  xiii.  6. 


2  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

a  faithful  son  of  the  Church  will  have  a  just  sense 
of  the  infinitude  and  many-sidedness  of  truth.  He 
will  cultivate  in  himself  the  spirit  of  candour,  and 
width  of  intellectual  sympathy.  He  will  be  keenly 
alive  to  the  strength  of  an  opponent's  case1.  He  will 
discriminate  carefully  between  what  is  essential  and 
what  non-essential  in  the  cause  he  defends.  And 
here  probably  his  difficulties  will  begin.  Indeed  every 
thoughtful  Christian  has  sooner  or  later  to  face  a 
practical  problem,  upon  the  right  solution  of  which 
the  advancement  of  truth  depends.  He  has  to  com- 
bine the  temper  of  restfulness  with  that  of  mobility, 
the  stedfastness  of  a  soldier  with  the  detachment 
of  a  pilgrim.  While  he  is  the  faithful  and  self- 
forgetful  guardian  of  a  precious  heritage  transmitted 
from  the  past,  a  heritage  of  belief  and  usage  which 
necessarily  moulds  his  thought  and  shapes  his  conduct; 
while  he  cherishes  all  those  heavenly  gifts  which  per- 
tain iinto  life  and  godliness* \  he  will  yet  be  pene- 
trated by  the  thought  so  simply  and  comprehensively 
expressed  in  the  words,  All  things  are  yours. 
A  Christian  teacher  or  student  will  adhere  jealously 
to  the  inherited  rule  of  revealed  truth,  the  immemorial 
tradition  of  the  faith,  and  yet  his  utterances  will  be 
so  far  reserved,  fragmentary,  and  incomplete  as  they 
correspond  to  the  infinite  mystery  of  godliness*. 
There  was  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  Word  of  Life,  that 
which  men  could  see  with  their  eyes  and  handle 
with  their  hands 4 ;  but  there  was  also  more  than 
they  could  fathom  with  the  intellect  or  express  in 
forms  supplied  by  human  speech.  In  the  presence 
of  His  unveiled  glory  they  were  as  men  who  stam- 
mered, not  knowing  what  they  said'0.  Accordingly 
in  the  earliest  ages  of  Christianity  at  least,  there  was 
seldom  absent  from  the  minds  of  great  teachers  of 

1  Chrys.  Horn,  in  ep.  ad  Phil.  246  C.  D  ;H  yap  A.a/z?rpa  VIKYJ  KOI  CK 
Trepiova-ias  yivo^vr]  avrrj  eVriV,  orav  TO.  duKovvra  O.VT£>V  ar^vpa  eiVai  fjLrj 
aTTOKpuTrrco/iej/-  TOVTO  yap  avarr]  eWi  //.aXXoy  77  vl<r]. 

z  2  Pet.  i.  3.  3  i  Tim.  iii.  16. 

4  I  John  i.  i.  5  Luke  ix.  33. 


i]  AND   THE  'HIGHER   CRITICISM*  3 

the  Church  a  deep  consciousness  of  insufficiency.  In 
them,  reverence  was  ever,  so  far  as  might  be  compatible 
with  fidelity  to  truth,  reserved  and  slow  of  speech. 
Even  their  most  confident  dogmatic  statements  were, 
so  to  speak,  forced  from  them  by  the  '  obstinate 
questionings/  whether  of  devout  faith  or  of  self-willed 
perversity,  and  they  were  advanced  with  manifold 
apologies  and  qualifying  cautions  *.  It  has  often  been 
remarked  how  unsystematic  are  many  of  the  utterances 
of  the  early  fathers;  they  felt  themselves  to  be  moving 
'  in  worlds  not  realized ' ;  they  had  presages  rather 
than  clear  intuitions  of  the  largeness  and  splendour 
of  the  divine  revelation  vouchsafed  to  man  in  Jesus 
Christ.  This  circumstance  explains  the  grandeur, 
and  yet  the  vagueness,  of  some  occasional  statements 
made  by  such  a  writer  as  Irenaeus.  He  knew  that 
the  Spirit  of  the  living  God  had  entered  into  the 
visible  universe  in  order  to  possess,  appropriate,  and 
hallow  it.  The  vision  of  God  Himself  was  the  true  life 
of  man2,  and  human  nature  was  already  the  receptacle  of 
the  grace  and  glory  of  God.  Already  man  was  a  son 
of  God,  but  it  did  not  yet  appear  what  he  should  be  :i. 
Only  it  was  certain  that  man's  destiny  was  a  continual 
assimilation  to  his  Creator.  Irenaeus  clung  tenaciously 
to  the  deposit  of  faith,  but  he  felt  that  only  the  pro- 
gressive unfolding  of  the  divine  purpose  for  humanity 
would  adequately  interpret  the  full  content  of  the  rule 
of  truth.  In  our  day,  when  knowledge  widens  its  range 
with  such  bewildering  rapidity,  we  too  have  to  dis- 
charge a  twofold  obligation.  We  are  bound  to  guard 
the  faith  committed  to  us  in  its  integrity,  but  with  due 

1  See  for  instance  Hilary's  language  in  de  Trin.  ii.  2 :  '  Compellimur 
haereticorum  et  blasphemantium  vitiis,   illicita  agere,   ardua   scandere, 
ineffabilia  eloqui,  inconcessa  praesumere.     Et  cum  sola  fide  expleri  quae 
praecepta  sunt  oporteret,   adorare   scilicet   Patrem  et  venerari  cum  eo 
Filium,  Sancto  Spiritu  abundare ;   cogimur  sermonis  nostri  humilitatem 
ad  ea  quae  inenarrabilia  sunt  extendere,  et  in  vitium  vitio  coartamur 
alieno :  ut  quae  contineri  religione  mentium  oportuissent,  nunc  in  peri- 
culum  humani  eloquii  proferantur.' 

2  Iren.  Haer.  iv.  20,  7  :  'Vita  hominis  visio  Dei.' 

3  Cp.  I  John  iii.  2. 

B  2 


4  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

carefulness  to  discriminate  between  what  is  and  what 
is  not  of  faith  ;  on  the  other  hand  we  have  to  bear 
constantly  in  mind  that  to  us  Christians  nothing 
achieved  or  discovered  by  human  faculties  is  without 
its  bearing  on  the  Christian  revelation  ;  all  things  are 
ours  in  so  far  as  they  throw  light  on  the  destiny  of 
man,  on  the  ways  of  the  eternal  God,  on  the  methods 
and  conditions  of  His  self-manifestation.  We  cannot 
divest  ourselves  of  responsibility  for  the  use  of  our 
judgment  in  bringing  all  things  to  the  test  of  Christian 
reason  and  experience.  He  that  is  spiritual  judgeth 
all  things,  yet  he  himself  is  judged  of  no  man.  For  who 
hath  known  the  mind  of  the  Lord  that  he  may  instruct 
him  ?  But  we  have  the  mind  of  Christ 1.  With  the 
creed  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  his  hands,  a  thought- 
ful Christian  may  look  round  upon  the  universe  of 
things  with  eyes  that  penetrate  deeper  than  the  surface 
of  life.  The  world  may  present  to  him  a  confused  and 
bewildering  spectacle,  like  that  which  Wordsworth 
studied  so  observantly  in  the  London  of  his  day : 

'  But  though  the  picture  weary  out  the  eye, 
By  nature  an  unmanageable  sight, 
It  is  not  wholly  so  to  him  who  looks 
In  steadiness  ;    who  hath  among  least  things 
An  under  sense  of  greatest ;    sees  the  parts 
As  parts,  but  with  a  feeling  of  the  whole2.' 

The  Christian  knows  that  in  his  hands  he  holds  the 
clue  to  this  tangled  maze  ;  the  kingdoms  of  this  world 
are  on  the  way  to  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord 
and  of  his  Christ 3.  Thus  the  Christian  slowly  and 
gradually  comes  to  recognize  the  inexhaustible  signifi- 
cance of  his  creed.  He  finds  in  the  Catholic  Faith, 
'  loved  deeplier,  darklier  understood/  that  which  will 
best  minister  to  the  intellectual  and  moral  wants  of  the 
age  in  which  he  lives.  To  be  truly  catholic,  in  a  word, 
is  to  be  large-hearted ;  to  be  no  mere  votary  of  the 
past,  but  a  student  of  the  present ;  not  a  servile 
adherent  of  the  creed,  but  a  wise  and  sympathetic 

1  I  Cor.  ii.  15,  16.  2  The  Prelude,  bk.  vii.  3  Rev.  xi.  15. 


i]  AND   THE  l  HIGHER   CRITICISM1  5 

interpreter  of  it  to  living  men.  We  Christians  should 
set  before  us  the  task  of  endeavouring  to  understand 
our  own  age,  its  needs,  its  perils,  its  possibilities.  We 
should  ever  look  upward  for  light  to  see  what  knowledge, 
what  aspect  of  truth,  is  most  serviceable  and  necessary 
for  the  days  in  which  we  live.  And  conversely  each 
new  development  in  human  life  or  social  organization, 
each  gift  of  civilization,  each  discovery  of  science,  each 
achievement  of  human  toil,  energy,  and  skill,  each 
true  partus  temporis,  will  be  of  vital  interest  in  so  far 
as  it  interprets  to  us  more  luminously  the  clauses  of 
our  creed  and  the  ways  of  divine  wisdom ;  in  so  far 
as  it  gives  us  a  truer  sense  of  proportion  and  a  larger 
insight  into  the  things  of  faith. 

Of  this  catholic  heart,  this  spiritual  versatility,  the 
most  conspicuous  example  is  to  be  found  in  the  writer 
of  the  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians  himself,  whose 
vocation  it  was  to  preach  to  the  world  the  mystery  of 
a  catholic  Church.  The  great  charter  indeed  of  the 
Church's  catholicity  is  contained  not  in  the  present 
passage,  but  rather  in  others  which  lie  behind  it:  All 
things  are  delivered  unto  me  of  my  Father J.  All  power 
is  given  itnto  me  in  heaven  and  in  earth  2.  This  truth 
of  the  Church's  lordship  in  Jesus  Christ  is  one  which 
we  are  sometimes  apt  to  overlook;  this  it  is  of 
which  the  Corinthians  especially  are  reminded  in  the 
text.  Accordingly  St.  Paul  sets  down  what  has  been 
called  *  an  inventory  of  the  possessions  of  the  child 
of  God':  All  things  are  yours;  whether  Paul,  or 
Apollos,  or  Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or 
things  present,  or  things  to  come;  all  are  yours. 
The  Corinthians  were  absorbed  in  the  disputes  of  the 
hour — disputes  which  turned  largely  upon  personal 
preferences  for  this  or  that  individual  teacher  in 
the  Christian  community.  They  were  glorying,  as 
St.  Paul  with  a  significant  allusion  to  prophecy  points 
out 3,  not  in  God  the  Creator  of  the  Church,  but  in  men 

1  Matt.  xi.  27  ;  Luke  x.  22.  2  Matt,  xxviii.  18. 

0  I  Cor.  i.  31.     Cp.  Jer.  ix.  23,  24. 


6  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

who  at  best  were  mere  instruments  of  His  providential 
purpose.  To  the  Apostle,  this  blindness  to  the  due 
proportion  of  things  appeared  disastrous  and  even 
intolerable.  The  Corinthians,  he  says  in  effect,  are 
forgetting  altogether  the  transcendent  dignity  of  their 
Christian  vocation,  the  ideal  splendour  of  their  privileges 
as  saints.  Not  merely  one  scattered  ray  of  the  eternal 
light  conveyed  through  one  limited  medium  is  theirs, 
but  each  'bright  beam  of  light'  that  God  through  His 
Apostles  'casts  upon  His  Church.'  Each  teacher  is 
a  divine  gift  to  the  Church.  St.  Paul  even  manifests 
in  his  rapid  transition  from  teachers,  Paul,  Apollos  and 
Cephas,  to  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things  present, 
or  things  to  come,  a  kind  of  noble  impatience  with  the 
pettiness  which  is  absorbed  in  discussing  individual 
claims,  and  types  of  doctrine,  instead  of  rising  to  the 
full  recognition  of  sublime  spiritual  prerogatives.  '  All 
things,'  he  seems  to  say,  '  are  yours  ;  all  are  intended 
to  minister  to  your  spiritual  growth  ;  you  are  inheritors 
of  the  world,  destined  to  be  its  judges,  called  to  use 
for  the  highest  ends  its  products,  gifts,  and  oppor- 
tunities. Angels  minister  to  you  as  heirs  of  salvation  ; 
all  things  work  together  for  your  good.  You-  are 
heirs  of  God  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ.  He  that 
spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  delivered  him  up  for  us 
all,  how  shall  he  not  with  him  also  freely  give  us  all 
things !  ? ' 

In  the  lectures  which  I  am  allowed  to  deliver  here 
I  propose  to  consider  very  simply  and  practically  the 
present  function  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  in 
the  Christian  Church.  Such  an  attempt,  which  is 
obviously  beset  with  grave  difficulty,  is  dictated  by 
considerations  which  it  may  be  well  to  indicate  as 
briefly  as  possible.  In  the  first  place,  a  Christian 
teacher  cannot  fail  to  be  seriously  concerned  at  the 

1  Rom.  viii.  32  ;  cp.  Rom.  iv.  13,  viii.  28 ;  I  Cor.  vi.  2,  vii.  31  ;  Heb.  i. 
2,  14  ;  and  Firmil.  adCyp.  \Epp.  Cyp.  Ixxv.]  c.  4  :  '  Quoniam  sermo  divinus 
humanam  naturam  supergreditur,  nee  potest  totum  et  perfectum  anima 
concipere ;  idcirco  et  tantus  est  numerus  prophetarum,  ut  multiplex 
divina  sapientia  per  multos  distribuatur.' 


i]  AND   THE  'HIGHER   CRITICISM3  7 

practical  disuse  into  which  for  many  ordinary  Christians 
the  Old  Testament  has  fallen — a  disuse  which,  what- 
ever be  its  causes,  must  tend  to  impoverish  the 
spiritual  life  of  the  Church  l ;  and  secondly,  any  one 
who  is  in  contact  with  thoughtful  persons  younger 
than  himself,  or  who  is  called  to  minister  to  the  spiritual 
perplexities  of  devout  Christians,  is  well  aware  that 
the  real  and  apparent  results  of  the  '  Higher  Criticism  ' 
have  raised  questions,  a  provisional  answer  to  which 
cannot  be  indefinitely  deferred  without  a  certain  breach 
of  trust.  In  Germany  many  attempts  have  been  made 
during  the  last  few  years  to  define  anew  the  position 
of  the  Old  Testament,  and  to  bring  the  claims  of 
Lutheran  orthodoxy  into  harmony  with  those  of  his- 
torical inquiry.  In  England,  however,  the  task  of  recon- 
ciliation has  scarcely  yet  been  attempted.  Its  peculiar 
delicacy  lies  in  the  fact,  amply  proved  by  experience, 
that  while  many  are  asking  for  guidance,  many  on  the 
other  hand  are  unwilling  or  unqualified  to  investigate 
the  claims  of  criticism,  or  even  to  give  a  hearing  to 
that  which  is  believed  in  a  vague  and  undefined  way 
to  threaten  the  foundations  of  Christian  faith.  A 
somewhat  unintelligent  conception  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  of  their  true  place  in  the  system  of  the  Church, 
has  also  much  to  answer  for.  The  result  is  that  an 
attempt  to  guide  and  reassure  troubled  faith  is  beset 
with  difficulties.  The  Christian  apologist  himself  is 
suspected  or  even  denounced ;  what  he  concedes 
appears  to  some  to  involve  a  virtual  betrayal  of 
essential  truth ;  what  he  defends  or  maintains  is 
thought  by  others  to  be  an  untenable  remnant  of 
exploded  error.  There  seems  indeed  to  be  no  subject 
in  regard  to  which  prejudice  is  more  slowly  dispelled, 

1  Some  causes  are  discussed  by  Prof.  Kirkpatrick  in  The  Divine 
Library  of  the  Old  Testament,  pp.  117  foil.  Mr.  J.  Paterson  Smyth  in  his 
useful  work  How  God  inspired  the  Bible,  p.  15,  quotes  a  typical  letter 
from  a  young  student  in  which  the  following  sentences  occur.  '  There 
are  hundreds  .  .  .  like  me,  who  do  not  want  to  lose  our  grasp  of  the  Bible, 
but  we  can  no  longer  view  it  as  we  have  been  taught  to  do.  If  there  is 
any  way  by  which  we  can  still  hold  it  and  treasure  it,  do  our  teachers 
know  it  ?  and  if  they  do,  why  do  they  not  tell  us  ? ' 


8  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

and  passion  more  vehemently  excited,  than  that  which 
is  to  be  considered  in  these  lectures.  The  most 
necessary  qualification  for  dealing  with  it  is  a  certain 
tenderness  of  sympathy  with  those  who  are  harassed  by 
the  breaking  in  upon  them  of  new  modes  of  thought 
and  new  collections  of  facts.  A  teacher  must  have 
realized  in  his  own  experience  at  least  some  of  the 
pains  of  mental  growth  and  the  difficulties  of  self- 
adjustment  to  the  claims  of  truth  as  it  is  progressively 
manifested  l.  We  must  not  be  surprised  that  mental 
versatility  is  a  rare  endowment,  and  that  in  the 
case  of  Holy  Scripture  the  conflict  is  not  merely 
between  new  knowledge  and  a  traditional  view,  but 
between  new  knowledge  and  deeply-rooted  spiritual 
experience.  The  real  nature  of  the  distress  that 
agitates  so  many  ordinary  Christians  at  the  present 
time  is  amply  recognized  by  reverent  criticism.  '  It 
would  argue,'  writes  the  late  Prof.  Robertson  Smith, 
4  indifference  rather  than  enlightenment,  if  the  great 
mass  of  Bible  readers,  to  whom  scientific  points  of 
view  are  wholly  unfamiliar,  could  adjust  themselves 
to  a  new  line  of  investigation  into  the  history  of  the 
Bible  without  passing  through  a  crisis  of  anxious 
thought  not  far  removed  from  distress  and  alarm 2.' 
Sympathy  then  with  troubled  faith  should  in  any  case 
guide  the  attempt  to  bring  succour  and  relief  to  per- 
plexed thought. 

One  ground  of  reassurance  is  to  be  found  in 
a  true  apprehension  of  the  exact  conditions  of  modern 
inquiry.  The  battle,  it  has  been  well  said,  is  not 
between  rationalism  and  faith,  but  between  true 
criticism  and  false  3.  Historical  and  literary  criticism 
is  to  be  regarded  not  as  a  foe  to  be  held  at 
bay,  but  as  a  good  gift  of  God  to  our  generation. 

1  Bernard,  in  Cant,  xxxix.  3,  makes  a  striking  observation  :  '  Benignus 
est  Spiritus  sapientiae,  et  placet  illi  doctor  benignus  et  diligens,  qui  ita 
cupiat  satisfacere  studiosis,  ut  morem  gerere  tardioribus  non  recuset.' 

*  The  Old  Testament  in  the  Jewish  Church,  p.  I. 

3  Cp.  Briggs,  Biblical  Study,  its  Principles,  Methods,  and  History, 
p.  104. 


i]  AND   THE  'HIGHER   CRITICISM1  9 

It  will  be  our  duty  presently  to  indicate  at  least 
in  rough  outline  the  considerations  which  appear  to 
justify  a  cautious  and  provisional  acceptance  of  at 
least  the  main  results  of  modern  critical  investiga- 
tion. Meanwhile  let  it  suffice  to  remark  that  the 
traditional  view  of  the  Old  Testament  religion  has 
in  any  case  been  profoundly  modified,  first,  by  the 
idea  of  historical  development,  which  has  given 
intrinsic  reasonableness  to  the  supposition  that  the 
Hebrew  religion  passed  very  gradually  from  a  quite 
rudimentary  stage  to  that  of  maturity  ;  secondly,  by 
the  discovery  or  employment  of  facts  and  sources 
by  which  the  results  of  literary  criticism  have  been 
supplemented  or  confirmed.  It  is  scarcely  too 
much  to  assert  that  the  century  now  verging  to 
its  close  has  witnessed  the  birth  of  a  series  of  new 
sciences,  if  the  title  is  strictly  applicable  to  those 
fruitful  departments  of  knowledge  usually  included 
under  such  names  as  '  Assyriology,'  *  Egyptology/ 
and  the  like.  The  discovery  of  Phoenician  inscrip- 
tions, systematic  inquiry  into  the  usages  of  early 
religions,  the  scrutiny  of  materials  supplied  by  the 
mounds  of  Babylon,  Egypt,  Nineveh  and  Palestine 
— these  have  yielded  a  mass  of  data  which  have 
practically  changed  the  conditions  of  Old  Testament 
criticism1.  It  is  often  imagined  that  because  many 
problems  are  apparently  insoluble  and  many  details 
are  confessedly  obscure  or  uncertain,  the  traditional 
view  of  the  Old  Testament  remains  virtually  unaf- 
fected. But  it  is  important  to  bear  in  mind  that,  even 
when  all  crude  speculations  and  fantastic  theories 
are  excluded  from  view,  there  remains  a  mass  of 
ascertained  facts  which  the  mere  dislike  of  trouble 
may  incline  men  to  ignore,  yet  which  deserve  the 
most  patient  and  painstaking  attention  of  all  educated 
Christians.  In  a  famous  sermon  the  late  Archbishop 
Magee  once  pointed  out  the  demoralizing  effect  of 

1  See  J.  Darmesteter,  Les  Prophttes  tf Israel,  pp.  158  foil.     Cp.  Renan, 
Histoire  du  peuple  d' Israel,  pref.  p.  xxiv  [Eng.  Tr.]. 


io  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

distorted  or  exaggerated  preconceptions  as  to  the 
nature  of  Scripture.  The  Church,  he  said,  has  too 
often  'attempted  to  evade  the  pressure'  of  criticism, 
'  by  wire-drawn  explanations,  far-fetched  harmonizings, 
ingenious  hypotheses  which  do  more  credit  to  the 
ability  than  to  the  candour  of  those  who  have  resorted 
to  them  V  We  have  surely  been  taught  by  the 
experience  of  the  past  that  for  a  child  of  God  candour 
is  the  first  of  duties,  and  the  question  has  now  forced 
itself  to  the  front,  whether  or  no  something  more  is 
needed  than  doubtful  disputations  on  points  of  detail  ; 
whether  or  no  the  present  state  of  knowledge  demands 
a  reconstruction  of  our  ideas  respecting  the  mode 
of  God's  self-revelation  in  the  sacred  history.  At 
the  same  time  let  us  remember  that  the  demand 
made  upon  our  faith  and  courage  is  not  a  new  thing. 
We  are  now  facing,  as  the  Hebrew  Christians  were 
called  to  face,  '  the  trials  of  a  new  age  V  It  has  been 
pointed  out  that  in  their  case  the  trials  were  such  as 
sprang  *  in  a  great  degree  from  mistaken  devoutness.' 
Those  who  live  in  an  age  like  ours  likewise  need, 
it  is  true,  a  word  of  consolation  3.  New  ideas,  new 
phases  of  thought,  new  aspects  of  old  problems,  press 
upon  us  ;  ancient  modes  of  statement  seem  sometimes 
to  have  become  void  of  meaning  ;  paths  trodden  by 
the  feet  of  many  generations  seem  to  be  outworn  : 


'  o  pa/epos  KavapLQ^ros  XP°VOS 
(pvei  T    aSr^Xa  Kal  (pavfvra 

KOVK.    for*    (l€\7TTOV    Ov 


But  faith  finds  her  solace  in  the  history  of  the  Church. 
She  has  the  experience  of  nineteen  centuries  to  sup- 
port her,  and  to  give  her  the  assurance  that  God  has 
been  with  His  people  all  along,  is  with  them  now,  and 

1  The  Gospel  and  the  Age>  p.  322.  Cp.  the  impressive  words  of 
Delitzsch,  New  Commentary  on  Genesis,  vol.  i.  pp.  54  foil.  :  '  The  love  of 
truth,  submission  to  the  force  of  truth,  the  surrender  of  traditional  views 
which  will  not  stand  the  test  of  truth,  is  a  sacred  duty,  an  element  of  the 
fear  of  God.' 

a  Cp.  Westcott,  Christus  Consummator^  ch.  i. 

3  Heb.  xiii.  22.  4  Soph.  Ajax,  646  foil. 


i]  AND   THE  'HIGHER   CRITICISM3  n 

will  lead  them  even  to  the  end.  Scripture  itself  is  the 
record  of  the  struggles  and  conflicts  through  which 
human  faith  has  long  since  triumphantly  passed ;  it  bears 
witness  to  a  divine  truth  which  has  never  failed,  and 
a  love  which  has  never  abandoned  its  purpose.  Thus 
encouraged  faith  may  calmly  confront  new  problems, 
neither  minimizing  their  importance  nor  exaggerating 
their  difficulty.  This  at  any  rate  is  the  temper  in 
which  our  subject  is  to  be  approached.  Our  aim  is 
to  consider  in  a  constructive  and  practical  spirit  some 
fundamental  aspects  of  the  Old  Testament,  regarded 
as  a  divine  message  to  mankind  for  all  time. 

It  has  appeared  after  careful  consideration,  that  the 
object  in  view  might  be  most  satisfactorily  attained, 
not  by  attempting  to  reconstruct  the  history  of  Israel 
— a  task  which  Mr.  Montefiore  has  with  striking 
ability  achieved  in  his  Hibbert  Lectiires  —  but  by 
approaching  the  subject  from  the  point  of  view  of 
Old  Testament  theology.  If  we  wish  to  reassure 
persons  who  suppose  that  Christianity  itself  is  en- 
dangered by  the  results  of  Old  Testament  criticism, 
we  shall  find  it  advisable  to  start  from  the  great 
religious  thoughts  and  verities  which  Christianity  has 
inherited  from  the  Jewish  Church  and  to  look  at 
them  afresh  in  the  light  of  modern  research.  It  is 
not  indeed  as  mere  inquirers  or  searchers  after  truth 
that  we  approach  the  Old  Testament,  but  rather  as 
men  of  faith  eagerly  desiring  to  understand  more 
intelligently  the  ways  of  One  who  has  already  made 
Himself  known  to  us  in  Christ  and  who  requires  of 
men  triith  in  the  inward  parts.  We  have  to  use 
our  faculties  honestly  as  in  His  sight.  For  St.  Paul, 
as  we  have  noticed,  claims  for  Christians  the  judicial 
office ;  he  implies  that  it  is  the  function  of  Christian 
reason  to  pass  judgment  on  the  phenomena  of  human 
life  and  the  products  of  human  wisdom  or  skill.  But 
Christian  reason  is  synonymous  with  the  mind  of 
Christ J.  The  fixed  standpoint  from  which  a  Christian 

1  I  Cor.  ii.  16. 


12  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

approaches  the  consideration  of  all  problems,  ethical, 
social,  or  intellectual,  is  that  of  belief  in  the  person 
of  Him  who  by  the  presence  of  His  Spirit  inhabits 
and  enlightens  the  Church.  A  true  estimate  of  the 
Old  Testament,  its  character,  purpose,  and  teaching, 
is  only  possible  on  the  basis  of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Son  of  God  made  man. 


I. 

First  of  all,  then,  we  approach  the  Old  Testament 
as  believers  in  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  : 
that  unique  revelation  of  the  glory  and  love  of  the 
Father,  which  lies  at  the  root  of  all  our  Christian 
life  and  experience.  We  know  that  the  Son  of  God 
is  come,  and  hath  given  us  an  understanding  that  we 
may  know  him  that  is  tmie,  and  we  are  in  him  that 
is  tme,  even  in  his  Son  Jesiis  Christ '.  In  comparison 
with  this  fact  all  that  foreshadowed  it  in  the  world's 
history,  or  in  the  literature  which  enshrined  the  ex- 
pectation of  good  things  to  come,  is  of  secondary 
importance  and  interest.  We  know  that  the  Son  of 
God  is  come.  In  their  assurance  of  this  divine  gift, 
Christians  can  bear  with  much  uncertainty  and  per- 
plexity in  regard  to  problems  which  lie  on  the  fringe 
of  God's  self-revelation.  But  something  is  to  be 
gained  from  a  closer  survey  of  the  Incarnation  in 
relation  to  the  task  which  at  present  engages  our 
attention,  for  it  is  a  fact  which  necessarily  illustrates 
the  divine  method  of  dealing  with  mankind.  For 
example,  the  Incarnation  is  the  perfect  consecration 
of  nature.  It  is  the  crowning  example  of  the  em- 
ployment by  God  of  media,  of  the  appropriation  of 
things  visible  and  material  as  organs  and  vehicles  of 
divine  gifts  to  mankind.  In  the  Incarnation,  Almighty 
God  reveals  Himself  as  a  being  who  wills  to  take 
things  common  and  make  them  instruments  of  grace 

1  I  John  v.  20. 


i]  AND    THE   'HIGHER   CRITICISM*  13 

and  power  ;  to  consecrate  human  nature,  and  elevate 
it  into  fellowship  with  the  divine  life ;  to  convey 
spiritual  blessings  to  the  world  through  the  mediation 
of  human  service  and  human  suffering.  Again,  the 
Incarnation  reveals  to  us  a  love  which  addresses  itself 
to  the  actual  conditions,  and  accommodates  itself  to 
the  present  needs,  of  mankind.  *  Accommodation,' 
it  has  been  said,  '  is  an  essential  principle  in  the 
method  of  a  revelation  of  grace1';  and  on  a  broad 
scale  we  are  familiar  enough  with  the  exhibition 
of  this  principle  in  Hebrew  history.  In  the  election 
and  education  of  a  peculiar  people,  God  is  seen 
taking  man  as  He  finds  him  to  make  him  what 
as  yet  he  is  not,  adapting  Himself  to  the  existing 
capacities  of  a  backward  and  untutored  race.  That 
this  is  the  true  inner  secret  of  the  Old  Testament 
history  we  are  assured  when  we  study  the  life  and 
work  of  the  incarnate  Son.  If  Jesus  Christ  were 
merely  the  last  and  most  eminent  of  a  line  of  prophets, 
there  would  be  more  to  be  said  for  that  familiar  type 
of  criticism  which  represents  Israel's  religious  develop- 
ment as  a  purely  natural  phenomenon,  having  its 
starting-point  and  controlling  principle  not  in  any 
intervention  or  guidance  of  a  gracious  and  loving  God, 
not  in  any  supernatural  revelation  imparted  to  elect 
souls  at  different  epochs  in  Israel's  history,  but  in 
fetichism,  or  totemism,  or  polytheism,  whence  by 
a  slow  process  of  purely  natural  evolution  it  passed 
to  its  final  stage  in  ethical  monotheism  2.  Here  we 
touch  one  of  the  distinctive  features  of  Israel's 
religion,  which  separates  it  sharply  from  other  con- 
temporary religions  of  antiquity,  namely,  that  it  is 
a  religion  of  revelation,  whereas  they  are  products  of 
the  ordinary  development  of  man's  religious  and  moral 
faculties  3. 

The    Incarnation,  then,  sets  a  seal  of  confirmation 

1  A.  B.  Bruce,  The  Chief  End  of  Revelation,  p.  113. 

2  Cp.  Kohler,  Uber  Berechtigung  der  Kritik  des  A.  T.  p.  66. 

3  Riehm,  Alttestamentliche  Theologie,  §  4,  pp.  26,  27. 


14  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

to  the  general  principle  which  was  really  at  work 
in  Israel's  religious  history;  it  reveals  the  secret  of 
its  upward  tendency,  namely,  the  condescending  love 
and  patience  of  God.  And  to  that  condescension 
who  shall  venture  to  prescribe  limitations,  considering 
what  we  now  know  of  the  depth  to  which  divine  love 
will  stoop  in  order  to  win  man  from  his  sin  and  lead 
him  to  holiness  ?  In  the  light  of  God's  actual 
dealings  with  the  world  in  the  gift  of  His  Son,  we 
can  appreciate  better  all  that  recent  research  has  taught 
us  respecting  the  close  affinity  between  Israel's  early 
faith  and  practice,  and  that  of  its  heathen  neighbours 
and  kinsfolk.  It  no  longer  startles  us  to  find  the 
divine  wisdom  adopting,  regulating,  and  consecrat- 
ing to  higher  uses  traditional  customs  or  practices 
common  to  the  entire  Semitic  race,  in  order  to  employ 
them  as  elements  in  a  system  of  rudimentary  instruc- 
tion and  of  graduated  moral  discipline.  We  cannot 
be  surprised  even  to  find  that  very  low  and  inadequate 
conceptions  of  the  Godhead  are  accepted  as  the 
necessary  basis  of  higher  and  more  spiritual  ideas. 
Indeed,  not  to  enlarge  upon  so  familiar  a  theme,  it  is 
enough  to  recall  the  saying  of  Wellhausen,  that  the 
religion  of  the  Old  Testament  '  did  not  so  much  make 
men  partakers  in  a  divine  life,  as  make  God  a  partaker 
in  the  life  of  men  V  If  God  really  was,  as  we  believe, 
preparing  the  world  for  such  an  event  as  the  taber- 
nacling of  God  with  men,  we  have  no  occasion  for 
wonder  that  He  should,  through  long  centuries  of 
education,  have  accommodated  Himself  to  what  was 
partial,  rude,  and  imperfect,  while  ever  aiming  at  that 
which  was  perfect. 

*  God  a  partaker  in  the  life  of  men.'  Let  us  pause 
to  consider  the  significance  of  this  expression  in  its 
application  to  our  subject.  Does  it  not  suggest  that 
the  divine  action  will  inevitably  transcend  the  range 

1  Sketch  of the  History  of  Israel  and  Judah,  p.  17.  The  first  volume  of 
Kenan's  Histoire  du  pc.uple  d' Israel  is  a  striking  illustration  of  this  thesis, 
in  spite  of  much  in  its  pages  that  seems  arbitrary,  prejudiced,  and  fantastic. 


i]  AND   THE  '  HIGHER   CRITICISM3  15 

of  our  experience,  and  possibly  contradict  the  first 
suggestions,  though  not  the  ultimate  conclusions,  of 
reason  itself?  If  the  love  of  God  be  love  indeed,  it 
will  not  be  deterred  from  self-manifestation.  It  will 
break  down  barriers.  It  will  adapt  itself  to  the  actual 
situation.  It  will  use  the  available  material,  the 
instruments  ready  to  hand.  There  will  be  no  limit 
to  the  range  of  divine  condescension,  except  that 
imposed  by  the  law  of  perfect  holiness. 

'  What  lacks  then  of  perfection  fit  for  God 
But  just  the  instance  which  the  tale  supplies 
Of  love  without  a  limit  ?    So  is  strength, 
So  is  intelligence ;   let  love  be  so, 
Unlimited  in  its  self-sacrifice, 
Then  is  the  tale  true  and  God  shows  complete.' 

And,  indeed,  such  a  fact  as  the  Incarnation,  a 
mystery  of  which  St.  Paul  and  St.  John  have  taught 
us  the  cosmic  significance,  inevitably  suggests  that 
in  all  departments  of  its  operation,  the  love  of  God 
will  exhibit  a  certain  uniformity  of  method.  Hence, 
we  are  only  reasoning  as  serious  Christians  must 
necessarily  reason,  when  we  apply  to  the  questions 
involved  in  the  present  day  study  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment principles  suggested  by  the  acknowledged  fact 
of  the  Incarnation.  Let  us  follow  out  this  line  of 
thought  somewhat  in  detail. 

i.  First  let  us  bear  in  mind  that  in  the  Bible  the 
Word  of  God  comes  to  us  \  and  addresses  us  as 
beings  capable  of  moral  response.  The  Bible  appeals 
to  us  as  an  inspired  book,  a  divine  product.  It 
is  one  as  the  person  of  Christ  is  one.  Whatever 
conclusions  may  be  ultimately  ascertained  as  to  its 
structure  and  the  mode  of  its  formation,  it  presents 
itself  to  us  as  a  whole,  possessed  of  a  certain  unmis- 

1  We  must  not  without  caution  identify  the  '  Word  of  God '  with 
'  Scripture.'  Such  an  identification  is  not  biblical  and  is  open  to  serious 
objections.  '  In  the  Old  Testament  the  term  Word  of  God  is  applied 
chiefly  to  particular  declarations  of  the  purposes  or  promises  of  God, 
especially  to  those  made  by  the  prophets  ;  in  the  New  Testament  it 
denotes  commonly  the  gospel  message.'  (Driver,  Sermons  on  Old  Testa- 
ment Subjects,  pp.  158,  159.) 


16  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

takeable  unity  of  function  l.  Like  the  human  eye,  or 
the  trained  conscience  of  a  human  being,  the  Bible 
is  an  organism  respecting  which  we  may  reasonably 
think  that  we  can  in  some  degree  trace  the  stages 
of  its  growth  and  development.  And  just  as  the 
question  of  the  manner  in  which  an  organism  or 
faculty  is  developed  is  entirely  distinct  from  the 
question  of  its  true  function  and  capacities  when  in 
a  developed  state2,  so  in  the  case  of  Scripture,  the 
question  of  the  nature  and  use  of  the  complete  or- 
ganism, the  product  viewed  in  its  entirety,  is  one, 
comparatively  speaking,  unaffected  by  inquiries  re- 
lating to  its  structure  and  formation.  The  mystery 
with  which  we  are  face  to  face  in  Scripture  is  that 
of  a  message  or  word  from  God,  a  divine  book, 
which,  as  a  matter  of  age-long  experience,  has  actually 
produced  in  every  period  which  has  followed  its  com- 
pletion spiritual  results  of  infinite  magnitude  and 
importance.  It  is  the  total  product,  the  complete 
work,  which  fulfils  such  vast  and  varied  functions 
in  the  spiritual  history  of  mankind 3.  Questions  in 
regard  to  the  mode  of  its  formation  are  secondary. 
When  the  different  oral  accounts  of  Christ's  life 
were  first  committed  to  writing,  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  the  earliest  narrative  was  that  which 
recorded  His  public  acts  and  utterances  during  the 

1  An  ancient  expositor  of  the  Psalms,  Didymus  of  Alexandria,  compares 
Scripture  to  the  seamless  robe  of  Christ :  ov  yap  Pe&iaa-pevijv  evwo-iv,  d\\a 
avfjKpvf)  e'^ei*    eartv  Se  KOL  avaQev  dia  TO  dfoTrvevaTOS  flvaC     vfyavTos  di   oXov, 
8ia  TrdiTrjs  yap  Suyajuea)?  17  ypa(j)>]  avaOev  €<TTLV  (in  Psalm,  xxi.  19)' 

2  Cp.  Wace,  Boyle  Lectures,  ser.  i.  p.  18. 

3  Cp.  Sanday,  Bampton  Lectures,  p.  402  :  '  If  we  take  a  wider  range, 
and  look  at  the  diversified  products  of  this  individual  inspiration,  and  see 
how  they  combine  together,  so  as  to  be  no  longer  detached  units  but 
articulated  members  in  a  connected  and  coherent  scheme,  we  must  needs 
kel  that  there  is  something  more  than  the  individual  minds  at  work  ;  they 
are  subsumed,  as  it  were,  in  the  operation  of  a  larger  Mind,  that  central 
Intelligence  which  directs  and  gives  unity  of  purpose  to  the  scattered 
movements  and  driftings  of  men.'     Dalman,  Das  A.  T.  ein  Wort  Gottes, 
p.  10,  observes  that  for  our  Lord  and  the  New  Testament  writers,  'im 
Grunde  liegt  der  Nachdruck  nicht  auf  der  Weise  der  Entstehung  der 
biblischen  Biicher,  sondern  auf  dem  Resultat  des  litterarischen  Processes 
dem  sie  entstammen.' 


i]  AND   THE   'HIGHER   CRITICISM'  17 

period  of  His  sacred  ministry;  the  mystery  of  His 
birth  was  one  in  which  the  Church  was  keenly 
interested,  but  for  an  answer  to  her  questionings  she 
could,  it  would  seem,  afford  to  wait.  The  point  of 
primary  importance  to  the  earliest  believers  was  not 
whence  our  Lord  came,  but  what  He  was,  what  He 
did,  what  He  claimed  of  man  when  He  actually 
appeared.  By  analogy  we  may  regard  the  Bible  as 
a  book  in  which  the  continuous  spiritual  experience 
of  mankind  has  recognized  the  very  presence  of  the 
Word  of  God:  the  declaration  of  His  whole  mind 
and  will  concerning  His  creatures,  the  unveiling  of 
His  character  and  of  His  everlasting  purpose  of 
grace 1.  Here  is  something  which  historical  and 
critical  study  cannot  impair.  A  leading  critic  of  the 
Old  Testament  has  used  words  which  admirably 
express  the  result  of  Christian  experience  on  this 
point.  '  Of  this  I  am  sure  .  .  .  that  the  Bible  does 
speak  to  the  heart  of  man  in  words  that  can  only 
come  from  God — that  no  historical  research  can  de- 
prive me  of  this  conviction  or  make  less  precious  the 
divine  utterances  that  speak  straight  to  the  heart. 
For  the  language  of  these  words*  is  so  clear  that  no 
re-adjustment  of  their  historical  setting  can  conceiv- 
ably change  the  substance  of  them.  Historical  study 
may  throw  a  new  light  on  the  circumstances  in  which 
they  were  first  heard  or  written.  In  that  there  can 
only  be  gain.  But  the  plain,  central,  heartfelt  truths, 
that  speak  for  themselves  and  rest  on  their  own 
indefensible  worth,  will  assuredly  remain  to  us  V 

2.  This  point  which  we  have  barely  touched  upon 
here  will  be  recalled  at  the  close  of  the  present 
lecture.  Meanwhile  we  pass  on  to  consider  some 
further  teachings  suggested  by  the  fruitful  analogy 
of  the  Incarnation.  We  have  seen  that  it  illustrates 


1  Cp.  Iren.  Haer.  iv.  5.  I  :  '  Quoniam  impossible  erat  sine  Deo  discere 
Deum,  per  verbum  suum  docet  ho  nines  scire  Deum.' 

2  Robertson  Smith,  O.   T.  in  /.  C.  lect.  i.  p.  19.     The  whole  of  this 
admirable  lecture  is  worthy  of  careful  study. 

C 


i8  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

the  divine  unity  of  Scripture  as  fulfilling  a  special 
function  in  the  spiritual  history  of  mankind.  But  the 
same  analogy  reminds  us  of  a  duality  of  natures  1.  As 
Christ  was  at  once  divine  and  human,  so  Scripture  is 
found  to  have  a  twofold  aspect.  We  shall  be  prepared 
to  recognize  frankly  that  on  one  side  it  is  perfectly 
human,  when  we  remember  that  about  the  incarnate 
Son  when  He  appeared  on  earth  all  was  simple,  plain, 
natural,  common.  He  vw&  found  in  fashion  as  a  man. 
The  great  trial  indeed  for  our  Lord's  contemporaries 
— the  trial  under  which  average  Jewish  faith  actually 
broke  down — was  the  simplicity  and  the  plainness 
of  His  outward  appearance.  Is  not  this,  they  said,  the 
carpenter,  the  son  of  Mary,  the  brother  of  James  and 
Joses,  and  of  J^^,da  and  Simon  ?  and  are  not  his  sisters 
here  with  us  f  And  they  were  offended  at  him 2.  Now 
similarly  Scripture  is  found  to  have  a  literary  history, 
exceptional  indeed  in  certain  respects,  but  by  no 
means  entirely  mysterious  or  inexplicable.  In  pro- 
portion as  critical  science  advances,  we  recognize  that 
in  its  letter,  in  its  prima  facie  appearance,  Scripture 
is,  if  I  may  so  say,  more  human,  more  ordinary.  It 
displays  to  a  certain  extent  the  same  traces  of  human 
workmanship,  human  compilation,  even  human  limita- 
tion and  fallibility,  as  are  discoverable  in  other  products 
of  oriental  literature.  The  Pentateuch  for  example, 
or  at  least  a  considerable  portion  of  it,  proves  to  be 
a  collection  of  fragments  gathered  together  no  one 
can  certainly  say  how,  when,  or  by  whom.  If  we  take 
a  more  general  survey  of  the  Old  Testament,  we  find 
that,  in  spite  of  the  impressive  unity  of  purpose  which 
pervades  the  whole,  there  is  a  remarkable  diversity  in 
the  types  of  literary  production  incorporated  in  it.  All 
species  of  composition  known  to  the  ancient  Hebrews 
would  seem  to  have  been  utilized,  in  so  far  as  they 

1  This  thought  is  worked  out  with  admirable  skill  in  Abp.  Magee's 
sermon  on  '  The  Bible  human  and  yet  divine.'     See   The  Gospel  and  the 
Age,  pp.  311  foil. 

2  Mark  vi.  3. 


i]  AND   THE  'HIGHER   CRITICISM'  19 

were  capable  of  becoming  adequate  vehicles  of 
spiritual  teaching.  We  have  in  fact  to  deal  with 
a  library  in  the  Old  Testament — a  library  containing 
history,  poetry,  proverbs,  philosophical  discussions, 
annals,  genealogies,  semi-historical  folk-lore,  and  primi- 
tive myths.  It  is  evidently  a  literature  which,  as  Ewald 
has  remarked,  has  shaped  itself  just  as  freely  as  that  of 
all  other  ancient  nations.  It  is  distinguished  by  an 
extraordinary  simplicity,  vigour,  and  naturalness— 
a  simplicity  which  is  owing  not  to  any  deficiency  of 
refinement  or  culture  in  the  periods  which  produced 
the  several  books,  but  to  '  the  dominant  power  of 
a  true  religion  V  °r  rather  to  the  continuous  and 
controlling  guidance  of  the  self-revealing  Spirit  of  God. 
There  is  then  admittedly  a  human  side  to  Scripture, 
and  the  condescension  which  we  witness  in  the  Incarna- 
tion of  the  Son  of  God  prepares  us  to  find  that  in  the 
Old  Testament  God  has  left  to  the  human  instruments 
of  His  will  more  than  we  had  once  supposed2.  He 
has  employed  different  types  of  mind  and  character  to 
execute  or  advance  His  purposes.  In  the  recording 
of  His  acts  and  words  He  has  sanctioned  the  em- 
ployment of  literary  methods  which  in  a  higher  stage 
of  culture  might  be  judged  inappropriate.  He  has  con- 
secrated individual  peculiarities  or  special  intellectual 
endowments  to  ends  of  His  own.  The  result  is  that 
to  the  critical  eye  Scripture  wears  an  ordinary  and 
occasionally  even  humble  exterior ;  it  is  not  free  from 
such  incidental  defects,  limitations,  and  errors,  as  are 
incident  to  all  human  composition  ;  but  under  this  lowly 
form  is  concealed  a  special  divine  presence3.  Here, 
as  in  the  Incarnation,  may  be  discerned  the  self-unveil- 

1  H.  Ewald,  Revelation,  its  Nature  and  Record  (Eng.  Tr.,  T.  &T.  .Clark), 
p.  320. 

2  See  Sanday,  The  Oracles  of  God,  serm.  ii. 

3  Jukes,  The  Types  of  Genesis,  p.  xvi,  '  Christ  the  incarnate  Word  of 
God  seems  to  me,    not  an  illustration  only,  but  a  proof,  both   of  the 
preciousness  of  the  letter,  and   of  the  deeper  spirit  which  everywhere 
underlies  the  letter  throughout   the   word    of  God.'      The  same  point 
underlies  Origen's  distinction  between  the  '  flesh '  and  '  spirit '  of  Scripture 
(de  Princ.  iv.  II  and  14). 

C    2 


20  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

ing  of  a  divine  Spirit,  the  operation  of  divine  power, 
the  appeal  of  divine  love.  These  I  repeat  are  great 
realities  of  the  spiritual  world,  which  have  been  put 
to  the  test  by  a  thousand  generations  of  Christians. 
Their  experience  has  shown  that  the  highest  office  of 
Scripture  is  one  that  transcends  the  range  and  sphere 
of  critical  investigation.  The  appeal  of  the  Spirit  who 
speaks  in  Scripture  is  to  man's  spirit ;  the  appeal  of 
power  is  to  man's  sense  of  need ;  the  appeal  of  love  is 
to  the  faculties  of  man's  heart  and  will. 

?.  For  there  is  one  further  point  in  this  fruitful 
analogy  which  may  be  profitably  mentioned.  We  may 
consider  the  importance  of  the  self-witness  of  Scripture. 
On  the  one  hand,  like  our  Lord's  human  body,  the 
Bible  is  a  thing  in  rerum  natura,  a  book  among  books  ; 
on  the  other,  its  self-witness  challenges  us  to  acknow- 
ledge a  higher  claim ;  it  speaks  as  having  authority  ; 
it  claims  to  be  something  more  than  a  mere  human 
compilation.  Just  as  Jesus  Christ  arrested  the  attention 
of  men,  drew  them  to  Himself  by  the  exercise  of  an 
incomparable  moral  authority,  and  put  forward  super- 
human claims  to  their  allegiance,  so  Scripture  appears 
to  challenge  inquiry  and  to  claim  authority  in  virtue 
of  its  direct  bearing  on  conduct  and  character,  its  con- 
tinual appeal  to  faith  and  its  express  testimony  to  the 
divine  purpose  for  humanity.  A  book  that  touches 
human  life  at  every  point  cannot  be  of  merely  human 
origin.  It  bears  the  impress  of  a  controlling  mind  ;  it 
displays  the  action  of  an  informing  Spirit,  who  knows 
what  is  in  man.  St.  Paul  even  speaks  of  the  Old 
Testament  as  a  living  personality  :  it  sees  beforehand 
the  purpose  of  God's  electing  grace  ;  it  preaches  the 
gospel  to  Abraham  x.  This  aspect  of  Scripture  is  one 
which  lies  outside  the  scope  of  critical  inquiry. 

1  Gal.  iii.  8  ;  cp.  Rom.  ix.  17. — '  For  us  and  for  all  ages,'  says  Bishop 
Westcott,  *  the  record  is  the  voice  of  God  ;  and  as  a  necessary  consequence 
the  record  is  itself  living.  It  is  not  a  book  merely.  It  has  a  vital  connection 
with  our  circumstances  and  must  be  considered  in  connection  with  them. 
The  constant  use  of  the  present  tense  in  quotation  (A«'y«  ro  7rvevp.a  TO 
ayiov,  Xe-yei  77  ypa<f>rj  K.T.\.)  emphasises  this  idea.'  (7'fo  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews,  p.  475.) 


i]  AND   THE   'HIGHER   CRITICISM'  21 

True  criticism  indeed  never  dissects  the  Bible  as  if 
it  were  a  dead  body.  It  treats  each  book  of  the  Old 
Testament,  for  instance,  as  '  a  fragment  of  ancient  life,' 
not  to  be  fully  comprehended  or  justly  appreciated 
without  a  sincere  effort  to  enter  into  sympathy  with 
the  thought  and  circumstances  of  the  age  in  which  it 
was  written l.  Yet  criticism  after  all  moves  on  the 
plane  of  human  science ;  it  is  concerned  mainly  with 
the  natural  and  historical  side  of  Holy  Scripture ;  it 
deals  with  that  which  Origen  aptly  calls  *  the  flesh  of 
the  word.'  But  the  Christian  student  will  ever  bear 
in  mind  that  beneath  the  outward  veil  which  with  the 
aid  of  the  critic  he  reverently  scrutinizes,  there  breathes 
a  living  Spirit,  who  directly  appeals  to  conscience,  will, 
and  faith.  There  is  the  living  word  of  God,  the 
word  that  quickens  and  converts,  that  pierces  and 
heals,  that  enlightens  and  guides  the  spirit  of  man ; 
the  word  that  claims  to  be  the  food  of  souls,  the  light 
of  the  conscience,  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  the  mirror  of 
humanity,  the  unchanging  witness  to  the  work  and 
office,  the  authority  and  glory  of  the  Son  of  God  2. 


II. 

Our  inquiry  then  presupposes  and  takes  as  its 
foundation  the  fact  of  the  divine  Incarnation,  and  so 
far  we  have  been  engaged  in  considering  some  of  the 
features  which  such  a  fact,  supposed  to  be  true,  would 
lead  us  to  anticipate  beforehand  in  the  written  records 
of  revelation.  Students  of  the  history  of  doctrine  will 
further  notice  that  there  has  been  a  tendency  in  regard 
to  Scripture  analogous  to  that  which  may  be  observed 
in  some  stages  of  the  evolution  of  Christology.  The 
human  element  has  occasionally  been  minimized  or 
altogether  forgotten.  Men  have  been  tempted,  says 

1  Cp.  Robertson  Smith,  0.  T.  in  J.  C.  p.  16. 

2  Cp.  Heb.  iv.  12  -t  I  Pet.  ii.  2 ;    2  Pet.  i.  19;  Jas.  i.  25  ;  Eph.  vi.  17; 
John  v.  39. 


22  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

Archbishop  Magee,  to  make  of  the  Bible  '  not  a  super- 
natural book,  which  it  is,  but  an  unnatural  book.  .  .  . 
They  were  determined  to  find  the  whole  Bible  as  it 
were  in  every  text  of  the  Bible.  .  .  .  They  were  for 
ever  turning  rhetoric  into  logic,  vision  into  history, 
poetry  into  hardest  and  most  literal  prose.'  They 
forgot  that  in  the  Bible  Almighty  God  'was  using 
human  hearts,  human  thought,  human  knowledge, 
human  peculiarities  of  character,  in  order  that  in  and 
through  them  His  word  might  be  conveyed  to  us1/ 
Rabbinical  methods  of  scriptural  exegesis  supply  one 
example  of  this  tendency ;  the  theory  of  verbal  in- 
spiration another2.  But  without  further  enlarging  on 
the  subject  I  proceed  to  mention  another  truth  pre- 
supposed in  these  lectures,  namely  the  fact  of  the 
inspiration  of  Scripture  3.  What,  speaking  generally, 
ought  we  to  understand  by  this  term  ?  To  this  inquiry 
some  provisional  answer  at  least  is  necessary  at  this 
point.  It  shall  be  as  brief  and  clear  as  the  conditions 
of  the  subject  will  allow. 

It  is  to  be  observed  in  the  first  place  that  the 
doctrine  of  inspiration  is  designed  to  explain  a  fact 
which  is  quite  independent  of  human  theories.  It  is 
an  attempt  to  give  a  rational  account  of  the  unique 
religious  influence  which  has  been  exercised  by  the 
Bible.  That  influence  is  not  dependent  upon  a  par- 
ticular doctrine,  the  form  of  which  may  have  varied  at 
different  periods.  '  The  word/  it  has  been  finely  said, 
'  which  is  like  a  fire  and  like  the  hammer  that  breaks 

1  The  Gospel  and  the  Age,  p.  321. 

2  e.  g.  the  theory  expressed  in  the  Formula  consensus  Helvetica  (1674), 
can.  2 :  '  Hebraicus  V.  T.  codex  .   .  .  turn  quoad  consonas,  turn  quoad 
vocalia,  sive  puncta  ipsa  sive  punctorum  saltern  potestatem,  et  turn  quoad 
res  turn  quoad  verba  deonvevaros  ...  ad  cuius  normam,  ceu  Lydium 
lapidem,universae  quae  extant  versiones,  sive  orientales  sive  occidentales, 
exigendae  et  sicubi  deflecturit  revocandae  sunt.'  See  the  passage  in  Augusti, 
Corpus  Librorum  Symbolicorum,  p.  445. 

3  Driver,  Introduction  to   the  Literature  of  the  Old  Testament,  pref. 
p.  xix  :  '  Criticism  in  the  hands  of  Christian  scholars  does  not  banish  or 
destroy  the  inspiration  of  the  Old  Testament ;  it  presupposes  it ;  it  seeks 
only  to  determine  the  conditions  under  which  it  operates,  and  the  literary 
forms  through  which  it  manifests  itself.' 


i]  AND   THE  'HIGHER  CRITICISM3  23 

in  pieces  the  rocks,  does  not  need  to  be  accredited  by 
any  human  theory  as  to  its  origin  V 

Next  we  should  bear  in  mind  that  inspiration  in  its 
primary  sense  does  not  properly  describe  the  character 
of  a  sacred  book,  but  rather  denotes  the  living  action 
of  God  on  the  faculties  of  men.  Revelation  takes  the 
form  on  the  one  hand  of  an  outward  historical  move- 
ment. It  implies  an  actual  movement  towards  man  on 
the  part  of  a  living  Being,  possessed  of  perfect  freedom 
to  act,  to  intervene,  to  manifest  Himself  on  behalf  of 
His  good  purpose  2.  Revelation,  in  a  word,  means  the 
historical  self-manifestation  of  God  in  redemptive 
action,  and  it  may  be  remarked  in  passing  that  miracle 
is  an  antecedently  probable  element  in  such  action. 
Divine  will  and  purpose  must  have  at  least  the  same 
scope  in  the  universe  that  is  open  to  the  mind  and 
energy  of  man.  But  parallel  to  this  outward  action 
of  God  is  an  internal  operation  of  His  power  upon 
human  faculties.  The  outward  course  of  history  is 
accompanied,  so  to  speak,  by  the  Spirit  of  prophecy, 
which  acts  upon  the  constitution  of  man  in  such  a 
fashion  as  to  enlarge  his  capacity  to  apprehend  and  to 
correspond  with  the  outward  self-manifestation  of  the 
divine  character  and  mind.  The  New  Testament 
takes  it  for  granted  that  there  have  existed  prophets 
since  the  world  began,  men  indwelt  by  the  Spirit, 
organs  of  revelation  who  were  enabled  to  apprehend 
and  sympathize  with  the  purpose  of  God  while  it  was 
in  actual  process  of  historical  realization.  *  Israel's 
religious  teachers,'  says  Prof.  Schultz 3,  *  are  prophets, 
not  philosophers,  priests,  or  poets.  Hence  the  Old 
Testament  religion  can  be  explained  only  by  revela- 
tion, that  is  by  the  fact  that  God  raised  up  for  this 
people  men  whose  natural  susceptibility  to  moral  and 


1  Oettli,  Der  gegenwartige  Kampfum  das  A.  71  (1896),  p.  5. 

2  Phil.  ii.  13. 

3  Theology  of  the  Old  Testament,  vol.  i.  p.  54  [Eng.  Trans.].      Cp. 
J.  Darmesteter,  Les  Prophetes  d?  Israel,  p.  220,  and  Ewald,  The  prophets 
of  the  O.T.  [Eng.  Tr.J,  vol.  i.  pp.  3-8. 


24  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

religious  truth  developed  by  the  course  of  their  inner 
and  outer  lives,  enabled  them  to  understand  instinc- 
tively the  will  of  the  self-communicating,  redeeming 
God  regarding  men  ;  that  is,  to  possess  the  religious 
truth  which  makes  free,  not  as  a  result  of  human  wis- 
dom and  intellectual  labour,  but  as  a  power  pressing  in 
upon  the  soul  with  irresistible  might.  Only  those  who 
frankly  acknowledge  this  can  be  historically  just  to  the 
Old  Testament.'  When  in  fact  we  examine  the  Old 
Testament  religion,  and  ask  ourselves  how  out  of  the 
rude  polytheistic  nature-worship  which  was  common  to 
the  Semitic  race,  there  arose  a  religion  which  so 
evidently  contained  the  secret  of  a  lofty  spiritual 
development,  we  are  practically  forced  to  find  the 
explanation  in  the  fact  of  inspiration  ;  in  the  immediate 
action  of  the  living  Spirit  of  God,  arousing  at  least  in 
the  leading  figures  of  the  Hebrew  race  a  consciousness 
of  God 1.  For  it  is  not  necessary  to  assume — indeed 
the  Old  Testament  itself  contradicts  the  supposition— 
that  a  lofty  conception  of  God  was  at  any  time,  at 
least  before  the  exile,  a  paramount  force  in  the  life 
or  thought  of  the  masses  of  the  Hebrew  people2. 
Certainly  however,  the  unique  development  of  Hebrew 
religion,  and  its  constant  elevation  above  the  level  of 
kindred  faiths  surrounding  it,  irresistibly  suggest  the 
conclusion  that  there  were  from  the  very  earliest 
dawn  of  the  history,  individual  men  on  whom  the  Holy 

1  Observe  the  importance  of  the  religious  genius  in  revelation.     '  It  is 
a  defect,'  says  Pfleiderer  (Gifford  Lectures,  i.  183), '  of  the  present  realistic 
theory  of  development,  that  it  underestimates  or  entirely  overlooks  the 
significance  of  personality  in  history,  and  endeavours  to  find  the  active 
forces  of  progress  only  in  the  masses.     The  masses  however  are  never 
spiritually  creative.     All  new  world-moving  ideas  and  ideals  have  pro- 
ceeded from  individual  personalities,  and  even  they  have  not  arbitrarily 
devised  them  or  found  them  out  by  laborious  reflection,  as  men  find  out 
scientific  doctrines  by  investigation  ;  but  they  have  received  them  by  that 
involuntary  intuition  which  is  also  participated  in  by  the  artistic  genius, 
and  which  everywhere  forms  the  privilege  of  original  genius,  to  whose  eye 
the  essence  of  things  and  the  destination  of  men  are  disclosed  ...  yet  ... 
the  revelation  of  the  religious  genius  is  the  expression  of  what  the  best 
men  of  their  time  have  divined  and  longed  for,  the  unveiling  of  their  own 
better  self,  the  fulfilment  of  their  own  highest  hopes/  &c. 

2  See  Riehm,  Alttestamentliche  Theologie,  p.  n. 


i]  AND   THE  'HIGHER   CRITICISM3  25 

Spirit  of  God  was  directly  acting,  leaders  of  religion  of 
the  true  prophetic  type,  quick  to  apprehend  the  mean- 
ing of  those  successive  acts  in  which  Almighty  God 
revealed  His  own  character,  His  control  of  history, 
and  His  purpose  for  mankind  at  large.  Inspiration 
then  in  the  first  instance  is  an  idea  correlative  to 
that  of  revelation.  It  means  a  divine  action  on  man's 
faculties,  by  which  his  intellect  is  continually  trained  to 
more  intelligent  apprehension  of  divine  purposes,  his 
conscience  to  deeper  knowledge  of  moral  requirement, 
his  heart  to  worthier  love,  his  will  to  more  exact 
response.  For  He  who  is  the  object  of  knowledge 
Himself  imparts  the  faculty  to  know ;  and  it  follows 
that  '  the  essence  of  a  revealed  religion  is  absolutely 
dependent  on  prophecy.  Without  it  we  have  only 
natural  religion  or  philosophy1.'  Indeed  the  funda- 
mental characteristic  of  Hebrew  religion  is  the  con- 
viction that  God  is  a  self-communicating  Being,  who 
does  not  isolate  Himself  from  the  world,  but  by  His 
Spirit  awakens  in  His  creatures  the  capacity  to  know 
and  execute  His  will.  That  a  true  knowledge  of  God 
is  possible,  that  it  depends  upon  His  self-imparting 
grace,  that  the  word  of  God  actually  comes  to  indi- 
vidual men,  making  them  messengers  of  the  divine 
will  to  their  fellows,  that  God  speaks  to  them  in  modes 
and  under  conditions  of  His  own  choice  and  appoint- 
ment, that  He  admits  them  to  communion  and  converse 
with  Himself — this  is  indisputably  an  axiom  of  Israel's 
faith,  and  indeed  of  any  supernatural  religion  2. 

Now,  believers  in  inspiration  maintain  that  in  regard 
to  the  Bible  there  can  be  apprehended  by  the  spiritual 
mind  a  special  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  akin  to  that 
which  manifests  itself  in  the  prophets.  This  action  is 
discernible,  partly  in  the  providential  formation  and 
preservation  of  the  Scriptures,  partly  and  chiefly  in 
their  intrinsic  quality  and  characteristics.  Inspiration 


1  Schultz,  op.  cit.  i.  237. 

2  Ibid,  ii.  1 1 8.     Cp.  Sanday,  Bampton  Lectures,  pp.  124-128. 


26  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

implies  on  the  one  hand  the  continuous  direction  and 
over-ruling  guidance  of  the  Spirit,  acting  apparently, 
as  Dr.  Liddon  pointed  out  in  his  last  sermon  from 
this  pulpit,  on  the  principle  of  selection1,  and  so 
controlling  the  entire  process  of  the  Bible's  formation, 
as  might  best  serve  the  spiritual  interests  of  man- 
kind. In  regard  to  this  providential  action  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  Origen  makes  a  far-seeing  observation  in 
his  Letter  to  Africanus.  Dealing  with  the  question 
of  variations  in  the  Hebrew  and  Septuagint  text  of  the 
Old  Testament,  he  appeals  boldly  to  what  we  might 
call  a  self-evident  principle  of  a  revelation  of  grace. 
'  Can  it  be,'  he  asks,.  '  that  the  divine  providence, 
having  given  in  holy  Scriptures  material  for  edification 
to  all  the  churches  of  Christ,  was  unmindful  of  those 
who  had  been  bought  at  a  price,  those  for  whom 
Christ  died 2  ? '  Origen  evidently  means  that  in 
Scripture  a  divine  regard  for  the  spiritual  interests  of 
mankind  is  abundantly  manifested.  Certainly  the  Old 
Testament  is  very  far  from  being  the  kind  of  volume 
which  human  ingenuity  would  have  compiled  for 
religious  purposes ;  but  experience  has  shown  that 
nothing  less  expansive,  less  full,  less  varied,  less  mys- 
terious, would  have  satisfied  the  needs  and  yearnings 
of  human  nature.  Further,  the  spiritual  experience  of 
Christians  warrants  the  belief  that  the  action  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  while  it  has  controlled  the  formation  and 
selection  of  such  writings  as  should  best  serve  the 
providential  purpose  of  God,  has  also  protected  them 
from  such  defects  as  might  be  injurious  to  that  purpose. 
An  inspired  Bible  does  not  mean  a  book  free  from 
a  large  admixture  of  imperfect  elements,  but  it  does 
mean  a  book  perfectly  adapted  to  fulfil  the  function  it 
was  intended  by  God  to  discharge. 

On  the  other  hand,  inspiration  is  primarily  a  quality 

1  See  his  University  Sermon  on  The  Inspiration  of  Selection,  preached 
May  25,  1890. 

2  Orig.  ad  Afric.  iv.     So  Aug.  finds  providential  purpose  in  the  ob- 
scurities of  Scripture  (de  doc.  ii.  6). 


' 


]  AND   THE  t  HIGHER   CRITICISM'  27 

of  the  writers  or  compilers  to  whom  we  owe  the 
several  books  of  Scripture.  Men  of  different  types 
were  moved  to  write,  and  enabled  for  their  special 
work,  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  employed  the  pro- 
ducts of  their  pen  in  His  own  way  and  for  His 
own  purposes1.  In  considering  this  matter,  however, 
we  are  bound  to  remember  that  critical  analysis  of  the 
Old  Testament  books  has  somewhat  altered  the  con- 
ditions of  the  problem.  In  the  case  of  writings  which 
have  passed  through  a  prolonged  literary  process,  it 
is  somewhat  misleading  to  speak  of  the  writer  as  if  he 
were  a  single  person  2.  Waiving  this  point,  however, 
let  us  inquire  wherein  the  inspiration  of  the  biblical 
writers  consists  ?  Chiefly  it  would  seem  in  a  gift  of 
special  moral  and  religious  insight3.  The  inspired 
writer  is  one  who  is  spiritually  enlightened.  He  is 
alive  to  the  character,  requirement  and  purpose  of  the 
All-Holy.  He  gives  prominence  to  spiritual  truths 
and  laws.  He  reads  history  in  the  light  of  his  present 
spiritual  knowledge.  He  looks  upon  the  world  as 
God's  world ;  in  history  he  traces  the  dealings  of  God 
with  various  types  of  character,  individual  or  national. 
He  reads  in  the  events  of  the  present,  a  divine  com- 
mentary on  the  past ;  in  the  records  of  the  past  he 
finds  laws  of  future  development.  It  is  indeed  signi- 


1  Sanday,  Bampton  Lectures,  p.  227  :    *  The  authority  of  the  word 
written  was  precisely  the  same  as  that  of  the  word  spoken.  ...  It  was 
inherent  in  the  person  who  wrote  and  spoke,  and  was  derived  from  the 
special  action  upon  that  person  of  the  Spirit  of  God.'     Driver,  Serm.  on 
O.  T.  Subj.  p.  136:    'The  divine  thought  takes   shape   in   the  soul  of 
the  prophet,  and  is  presented  to  us,  so  to  speak,  in  the  garb  and  imagery 
with  which  he  has  invested  it  ;  it  is  expressed  in  terms  which  bear  the 
external  marks  of  his  own  individuality,  and  reflect  the  circumstances 
of  time  and  place  and  other  similar  conditions,  under  which  it  was  first 
propounded.' 

2  Cp.  Dalman,  Das  A.  T.  ein  Wort  Gottes,  p.  18. 

3  Driver,  Serm.  on  O.  T.  Subj.  pp.  146,  147  :  'We  may,  I  suppose,  say 
that  what  we  mean  by  it  [inspiration]  is  an  influence  which  gave  to  those 
who  received  it  a  unique  and  extraordinary  spiritual  insight,  enabling 
them  thereby,  without  superseding  or  suppressing  the  human  faculties, 
but  rather  using  them  as  its  instruments,  to  declare  in  different  degrees, 
and  in  accordance  with  the  needs  or  circumstances  of  particular  ages  or 
particular  occasions,  the  mind  and  purpose  of  God.' 


28  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

ficant  that  the  larger  part  of  the  Old  Testament  books 
are  ascribed  by  Jewish  tradition  to  prophets,  that  is  to 
men  who  were  regarded  as  specially  assisted  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  whether  in  reading  aright  the  lessons  of 
national  experience,  or  in  divining  correctly  the  pro- 
vidential course  of  events  in  the  future.  Indeed  this 
tradition  is  so  far  correct  that  beyond  any  question 
prophetism  seems  to  have  been  the  distinctive  element 
which  made  Israel's  religion  what  it  was l ;  and  as 
a  matter  of  fact  nothing  was  introduced  into  the  canon 
which  was  not  believed  to  be  in  some  sense  prophetic  2. 
For  the  prophetic  faculty  alone  could  enable  the  biblical 
writers  to  interpret  the  true  drift  and  meaning  of  the 
events  or  experiences  which  they  described.  In  this 
lies  the  present  importance  of  their  work.  Without 
being  either  perfect  in  form  or  free  from  error,  the 
writings  of  Old  Testament  sages  and  historians  give 
us  such  a  representation  of  the  mighty  works  and 
gracious  revelations  of  God  as  can  best  minister  to 
the  education  of  faith  in  every  age.  For  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  Hebrew  literature  took 
a  direction,  and  attained  to  a  height,  peculiar  to  itself. 
'Just  as  we  have  here  a  nation/  says  Ewald,  'wholly 
different  from  any  other  elsewhere  upon  earth,  so  we 
have  also  a  literature  shaped  and  fashioned  under 
a  spirit,  and  thence  also  with  results,  wholly  different 
from  those  of  foreign  or  other  Semitic  nations/  and 
this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that,  '  in  external  literary  forms 
Israel  followed  the  old  models  of  earlier  Semitic 
culture  V 

The  above  discussion  of  the  term  '  inspiration '  will 
suffice  to   make  clear  the  standpoint  presupposed  in 

1  Cp.  J.  Darmesteter,  Les  Prophetes  d' Israel,  p.  210  ;  Driver,  Serin,  on 
O.  T.  Subj.  p.  101  ;  Meinhold,  Jesus  und  das  A.  T.  pp.  103,  104. 

2  Cp.  Josephus,  c.  Apion.  i.  8  ;  Girdlestone,  The  Foundations  of  the 
Bible,  p.  17 ;  Sanday,  Bampton  Lectures,  p.  254.     The  Jews  appear  to 
have  supposed  '  that  books  composed  during  the  prevalence  of  Prophecy 
were  inspired  in  the  strict  and  true  sense,  and  that  those  composed  after 
the  cessation  of  Prophecy  were  not.' 

3  Revelation,  its  Nature  and  Record,  p.  308. 


i]  AND   THE  l  HIGHER   CRITICISM'  29 

the  following  lectures.  A  merely  mechanical  theory 
of  inspiration  is  untenable  for  this  reason  amongst 
others,  that  it  ignores  the  possibility  of  degrees  in 
inspiration ;  ncr  does  it  adequately  recognize  God's 
providential  action  in  regard  to  the  sacred  literature 
of  other  religions 1.  Further,  the  history  of  the 
canon  is  instructive  as  reminding  us  that  the  relative 
value  of  the  different  books  contained  in  the  Old 
Testament  varies  somewhat  widely 2.  The  very  fact 
that  there  was  hesitation  in  reference  to  the  inclu- 
sion of  several  disputed  books  is  sufficient  evidence 
:hat  the  precise  spiritual  function  of  a  particular 

Titing  might  not  always  be  obvious  or  certain,  and 
in  any  case  if  the  true  bearing  and  import  of  the 
livine  message  in  each  book  is  to  be  correctly  under- 
stood, it  can  only  be  by  patient  effort  to  enter  into  the 
listorical  conditions  under  which  it  was  produced,  and 

ie  state  of  mind  or  culture  to  which  it  was  addressed. 

We  arrive  then  at  a  true  conception  of  inspira- 
:ion  inductively  by  careful  study  of  the  Bible  itself. 

he  term  *  inspiration '  includes  on  the  one  hand 
the  providential  superintendence  or  guidance  which 
:ontrolled  the  formation  of  the  canon,  on  the  other 
that  supernatural  influence  which  heightened  the 
faculties,  or  directed  the  genius,  of  the  biblical 
writers.  Inspiration  has  been  admirably  described  as 
'  an  influence  within  the  soul,  divine  and  supernatural, 

1  Cp.  Sanday,  Bampton  Lectures,  pp.  398  foil.     Observe,  the  true  con- 
ception of  inspiration  does  not  require  us  to  regard  the  inspiration  of 
non-Israelites  as  impossible  or  imaginary.   What  distinguishes  the  biblical 
writers  is  the  character  of  their  knowledge  of  God  and  their  peculiar 
insight  into  His  requirement  of  man.     Schultz,  i.  255,  points  out  that  in 
its  earlier  parts,  the  Old  Testament  itself '  goes  upon  the  supposition  that 
even  a  Balaam  is  inspired  by  the  true  God,  and  that  his  curse  or  blessing 
takes  effect  (Num.  xxii.  6  ;  xxiii.  5  ;  xxiv.  3  f.     Cp.  Mic.  vi.  5)  ;  that  Moses 
has  a  certain  resemblance  to  the  wise  men  and  the  sorcerers  of  Egypt ; 
that  even  heathen  kings  have  dreams  of  a  truly  divine  significance  (Gen. 
xx.  6  ;  xl.  5  f. ;  xli.  i,  25,  28) ;  that  the  prophets  of  the  Philistines  prophesy 
truly  (i  Sam.  vi.  2f.) ;  in  a  word,  that  God  speaks  even  beyond  the  bounds 
of  Israel,'  &c. 

2  Sanday,  op.  cit.  p.  259:  'Just  as  there  is  a  descending  scale  within 
the  canon,  there  is  an  ascending  scale  outside  it.'     Cp.  Driver,  Serm.  on 
O. 


30  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

working  through  all  the  writers  in  one  organizing 
method,  making  of  the  many  one,  by  all  one  book, 
the  book  of  God,  the  book  for  man,  divine  and  human 
in  all  its  parts ;  having  the  same  relation  to  all  other 
books  that  the  person  of  the  Son  of  God  has  to  all 
other  men,  and  that  the  Church  of  the  living  God  has 
to  all  other  institutions  V  That  this  influence  works 
mainly  in  the  direction  of  moral  illumination  is  the 
view  of  many  ancient  Christian  thinkers  on  this 
subject.  Thus  while  Tatian  and  Justin  Martyr  lay 
stress  upon  the  affinity  in  character,  which  makes 
men  suitable  instruments  of  the  divine  Spirit2,  Origen 
declares  that  the  Holy  Spirit  *  enlightened  the  ministers 
of  truth,  the  apostles  and  prophets,  to  understand  the 
mysteries  of  those  things  or  causes  which  take  place 
or  act  among  men  or  concerning  men 3.'  *  By  the 
contact  of  the  Holy  Spirit  with  their  soul/  he  else- 
where says,  '  they  became  more  clear-sighted  in  their 
faculties,  and  more  lustrous  in  their  souls  V 

This  view  of  inspiration  is  to  be  distinguished 
from  the  popular  notions,  which  undoubtedly  influenced 
other  ancient  writers.  There  were  some  who  failed 
to  discriminate  between  inspiration  in  the  moral  sense 
described  above  and  the  passive  reception  of  a  divine 
afflatus.  This  latter  idea  was  characteristic  of  Greek 
'  mantic' ;.  it  exercised  considerable  influence  upon  the 
mind  of  Philo,  and  of  those  fathers  who  were  penetrated 
by  Hellenic  modes  of  thought5.  Such  a  conception, 

1  From  a  sermon  quoted  by  Briggs,  Biblical  Study,  p.  161. 

2  See  Tatian,  c.  Graecos,  §§  13,  29    (quoted   by  Westcott,  Introd.  to 
the  Study  of  the  Gospels,  p.  424).     Cp.  Justin,  Cohort.  8,  and  Dial.  c. 
Tryph.  7. 

6  de  Princip.  iv.  14. 

4  C.  Cels.  vii.  4  SiopemKoorepoi  TOV  vovv  KOI  rrjv  ^X.^v  Xa/wrporepoi. 

5  Cp.  Sanday,  J3 amp f on  Lectures,  p.  75.    Philo  and  apparently  Josephus 
seem  to  have  considered  inspiration  to  consist  in  a  species  of  frenzy  or 
ecstasy,  an  actual  suspension  of  the  reasoning  faculties  in  man,  so  that  he 
was  simply  a  passive  instrument   or  mouthpiece  of  the  divine  Spirit. 
Substantially  the  same  view  was  held  by  some  ecclesiastical  writers,  e.  g. 
Athenagoras,  Leg.  pro  Chr.  §  9  ;  Hippol.  de  Antichr.  ii.  ;  Clem.  Alex. 
Protrept.  i.  5  ;  &c.     See  generally  passages  quoted  by  Westcott  in  his 
essay  on  '  The  primitive  doctrine  of  inspiration '  (Introd.  .to  the  Study  of 
the  Gospels,  pp.  417  foil.). 


i]  AND   THE  l  HIGHER   CRITICISM'  31 

however,  must  obviously  be  corrected  by  investigation 
of  the  Old  Testament  itself.  There  is  nowhere  a 
trace  that  the  writers  of  the  historical  books  for 
example  were  conscious  of  being  supernaturally  in- 
formed of  facts  ascertainable  by  ordinary  means,  or 
of  not  enjoying  entire  freedom  and  power  of  inde- 
pendent judgment  in  their  selection  and  arrangement 
of  materials.  They  appear  simply  to  use  the  historical 
sources  open  to  them  in  their  own  way,  and  they 
nowhere  advance  any  claim  to  have  worked  in  a 
fashion  different  from  that  of  ordinary  profane  writers. 
We  may  go  further,  and  maintain  that  the  very  idea 
of  a  '  special  revelation  '  of  past  facts,  e.  g.  the  process 
of  creation,  or  the  origins  of  tribal  history,  is  con- 
tradicted by  analogy.  Revelation  in  no  case  under- 
takes the  task  of  imparting  information  in  regard  to 
the  events  of  past  history.  It  ever  proclaims  God's 
will  and  requirement  in  the  present,  and  to  that  end 
interprets  the  past  or  unveils  the  future 1.  The 
popular  idea  that  a  fact,  because  it  stands  in  Scripture, 
is  strictly  historical  and  infallibly  true  results  from 
an  untenable  theory  as  to  the  true  meaning  and 
purpose  of  inspiration  and  implies  a  real  confusion 
of  thought.  The  question  at  issue  is,  What  is  the 
nature  of  that  inerrancy  which  all  Christians  alike 
ascribe  to  Scripture,  when  they  acknowledge  that  it 
is  a  divine  book  ?  For  on  this  point  the  teaching  of 
Jesus  Christ  and  the  experience  of  Christendom  may 
suffice  to  guide  us2.  In  the  Old  Testament  He,  who 
afterwards  spake  to  us  by  a  Son,  spake  beforehand  by 
the  mouth  of  prophets  in  many  parts  and  many  fashions. 
Modern  research,  however,  is  throwing  new  and  startling 
light  on  the  -modus  operandi  actually  followed  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  His  self-communication  to  man,  and  in 

1  This  is  well  stated  by  A.  Kohler,  Uber  Berechtigung  der  Kritik  des 
Alien  Testamentes,  p.  14. 

2  Orig.  de  Princ.   iv.  9  maintains   /*>)  avQpairav  tlvai  auyxpn/zjuara  rets 
tepa?  3i/3Aour,  aXX'  e£  cirtirvoias  TOV  ayiov  Trvevfiaros  /SovX^/xan  TOV  narpos  TO)V 
oAcoj/  Sia  'l^croO  Xpioroi)  ravras  avay€ypa<f)0ai  K.OL  els  J^MUS  e\rj\i)6tvai. 


32  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

His  superintendence  of  the  process  by  which  a  sacred 
literature  was  gradually  formed.  The  consequence  is 
that  the  best  we  can  do  is  to  describe  in  general  and 
somewhat  vague  terms  what  we  mean  by  inspiration ; 
it  would  be  perilous  to  attempt  any  formal  definition. 
We  should  certainly  define  at  the  expense  of  over- 
looking some  vital  element  of  divine  truth.  Inspira- 
tion is  our  mode  of  denoting  the  influence  of  a  Spirit 
whose  operation  is  manifest  in  two  or  even  three 
distinct  but  closely  related  spheres.  We  may  trace 
that  operation,  first,  in  the  personality  of  those  great 
religious  leaders  whose  ministry  or  testimony  was 
employed  as  a  medium  of  divine  revelation;  secondly, 
in  the  community  whose  spiritual  life,  rather  than  that 
of  single  individuals,  is  reflected  in  such  great  literary 
products  as  the  Psalter ;  thirdly,  in  the  providentially 
guided  action  of  those  w7ho  so  compiled,  edited,  and 
collected  the  records  of  revelation,  as  to  impress  on 
the  total  product  of  their  labours  a  peculiar  uniformity 
of  tone  and  character1.  All  these  worketh  that  one 
and  the  self -same  Spirit,  dividing  to  every  man  severally 
as  he  will'2'. 


III. 

There  is  yet  another  subject  in  regard  to  which 
some  preliminary  explanation  is  desirable,  namely, 
the  extent  to  which  the  results  of  historical  criticism 
are  to  be  taken  for  granted  in  the  following  lectures. 
There  is,  however,  the  less  need  for  any  lengthened 
statement  because  it  has  been  a  constant  practice  with 
Bampton  lecturers  to  presuppose  the  labours  of  their 
predecessors.  Briefly  stated,  the  position  provisionally 
accepted  in  these  lectures  is  one  of  substantial  agree- 
ment with  the  cautious  and  well-considered  summary 
of  Prof.  Sanday  in  the  second  and  third  of  his  lectures 

1  Cp.  Dalman,  Das  Alte  Testament  ein  Wort  Gottes,  p.  19. 

2  I  Cor.  xii.  ii. 


i]  AND   THE  l  HIGHER   CRITICISM3  33 

on  Inspiration.  He  has  with  characteristic  fairness 
and  clearness  stated  what  may  be  taken  as  the 
established  results  of  nearly  150  years'  investigation 
of  the  Old  Testament l. 

It  seems  scarcely  necessary  to  give  any  complete 
account  of  those  results.  Broadly  speaking,  the  out- 
come of  historical  criticism  has  been  a  modification 
of  the  traditional  view  respecting  the  order  of  the 
successive  stages  in  Israel's  religious  development.  It 
has  been  rendered  most  probable  and  even  morally 
certain  that  the  active  ministry  of  the  prophets 
preceded  the  discipline  of  the  law,  at  least  in  its 
completed  form.  '  The  great  change  of  perspective,' 
says  a  French  writer,  '  which  recent  criticism  intro- 
duces in  the  sacred  history  is  that  it  assigns  the 
central  place  in  this  history  no  longer  to  Moses  on 
Sinai,  but  to  the  choir  of  the  prophets 2.'  This  is 
not  in  reality  such  a  revolutionary  statement  as  might 
appear  at  first  sight,  for  on  the  one  hand  the  activity 
of  the  prophets  certainly  presupposes  the  stage  of 
Mosaism,  that  term  being  carefully  guarded  so  as 
to  imply  not  a  fully  developed  system  of  ritual 
and  law,  but  an  historical  movement  that  laid  the 
foundations  of  a  divinely  organized  polity  and  sug- 
gested the  ideas,  religious  and  moral,  by  which  that 
polity  was  afterwards  moulded  3 :  an  element  of  law 
was  thus  present  as  a  working  factor  in  Israel's  pro- 
gress from  the  time  of  Moses.  On  the  other  hand, 
Moses  himself  is  regarded  by  the  prophets  as  one  of 
their  number 4,  nor  can  there  be  any  question  that 
he  is  the  most  distinguished  figure  in  that  long  line 
of  inspired  men  who  appeared  at  the  turning-points 

1  See  especially  Sanday,  Bampto.n  Lectures,  pp.  116-121,  172  foil.    For 
a  sketch  of  the  progress  of  criticism  ,in  relation  to  the  Pentateuch,  see 
Delitzsch,  New  Commentary  on  Genesis,  introd. 

2  Darmesteter,  Les  Pr ophites  d?  Israel,  p.  n. 

3  Mosaism  would  be  based  on  the  '  Book  of  the  Covenant '  and  perhaps 
the  *  Decalogue.'      Prophetism  developed  Mosaism  on  its  ethical  side. 
Judaism  was  a  period  of  education  and  discipline  in  which  sacrifice  was 
almost  the  sum  total  of  obedience.     Cp.  A.  B.  Bruce,  Apologetics^  p.  170. 

4  See  Hos.  xii.  13 ;  cp.  Deut.  xviii.  15. 


24  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

of  Hebrew  history  as  representatives  and  exponents 
of  a  higher  religion  than  that  of  their  contemporaries. 
The  work  of  the  prophets,  then,  preceded  the  prolonged 
and  strict  discipline  of  the  Pentateuchal  law.  At  the 
same  time,  the  history  of  the  canon  justifies  us  in 
continuing  to  speak  of  *  the  law  and  the  prophets ' 
so  long  as  we  are  referring  not  to  the  order  of 
historical  appearance,  but  to  those  great  divisions  of 
the  Hebrew  Scriptures  which  are  respectively  known 
by  these  titles,  and  which  were  successively  compiled 
in  their  present  shape  during  and  after  the  Exile. 
The  completed  Pentateuchal  law  may  still  be  re- 
garded as  a  principal  factor  in  Israel's  spiritual 
discipline — only  it  was  an  instrument  employed  in 
a  manner,  and  at  a  stage  of  the  history,  other  than 
was  once  supposed  l.  The  prophets  are  still  to  be 
reverenced  as  the  great  leaders  of  religion  who,  in 
due  succession,  laboured  to  keep  alive  in  Israel  the 
light  of  the  Lord.  It  is  a  reassuring  circumstance 
that,  in  regard  to  the  history  and  work  of  the  great 
Hebrew  prophets,  there  is  substantial  accord  between 
the  defenders  of  the  Hebrew  tradition  and  the 
adherents  of  the  higher  criticism  2.  But  the  compi- 
lation and  redaction  of  their  oracles  was  the  work 
of  a  later  age  than  that  in  which  the  prophets 
themselves  flourished,  and  there  is  good  ground  for 
thinking  that  some  anonymous  pieces  were  inserted 
in  the  volume  of  their  collected  works  and  assigned 
to  different  great  names,  in  accordance  with  a  well- 
known  literary  practice  of  the  time.  It  might  also 
seem  that  the  collected  record  of  prophetic  teaching 
acted  more  powerfully  on  a  later  age  than  the  living 

1  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  in  J.  C.  p.  310:  'The  time  when  [the  law] 
became  God's  word,  i.e.  became  a  divinely  sanctioned  means  for  checking 
the  rebellion  of  the  Israelites  and  keeping  them  as  close   to   spiritual 
religion  as  their  imperfect  understanding  and  hard  hearts  permitted,  was 
subsequent  to  the  work  of  the  prophets.     As  a  matter  of  historical  fact 
the  law  continues  the  work  of  the  prophets,  and  great  part  of  the  law  was 
not  yet  known  to  the  prophets  as  God's  word.'     Cp.  Hunter,  After  the 
Exile,  part  i.  pp.  273  foil. 

2  Cp.  Darmesteter,  Les  Prophetes  d^  Israel,  p.  121. 


i]  AND   THE   'HIGHER   CRITICISM*  35 

voice  of  the  prophets  had  acted  on  their  own  con- 
temporaries. To  conclude,  we  have  here  a  fixed  point 
which  is  amply  confirmed  by  an  investigation  of  the  Old 
Testament  itself:  the  work  of  the  prophets  preceded 
the  discipline  of  the  completed  law.  In  some  shape 
or  other  this  proposition  is  admitted  even  by  opponents 
of  the  higher  criticism.  No  person  capable  of  judging 
can  refuse  to  recognize  the  fact  that  the  levitical 
code  only  became  a  powerful  and  regulative  influence 
in  Israel's  national  life  after  the  return  from  Babylon. 
Nor  need  we  find  any  difficulty  in  supposing  that 
prophetism  was  followed  by  a  stage  relatively  lower — 
that  of  law.  The  question  however  is  not  whether 
the  legal  stage  was  inferior  to  the  prophetic,  but 
whether  or  not  it  served  an  indispensable  purpose 
in  the  religious  education  of  Israel 1. 

Literary  criticism  and  analysis  has  also  rendered 
necessary  a  new  view  as  to  the  composition  of  the 
Old  Testament  documents.  In  particular  it  has 
shown  with  unquestionable  clearness  and  force  that 
there  are  at  least  three  main  strata  of  laws  incorpo- 
rated in  the  Pentateuch,  strata  which  are  not  all 
of  one  age,  but  '  correspond  to  three  stages  in 
the  development  of  Israel's  institutions/  stages  still 
clearly  recognizable  in  the  narrative  of  the  historical 
books  2.  It  is  important,  however,  that  we  should  not 


1  See  the  suggestive  remarks  of  Dr.  Bruce,  Apologetics,  p.  262. 
Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  in  J,  C,  p.  388.    These  strata  of  laws  are — 

(1)  The  first  legislation,  contained  in  the  so-called  '  Book  of  the  Cove- 
nant' (Exod.  xxi-xxiii),  which,  roughly  speaking,  belongs  to  the  age  of 
Moses  himself. 

(2)  The  law  of  Deuteronomy  (Deut.  xii-xxvi),  which  reproduces  but 
expands  the  first  legislation. 

(3)  The  levitical  legislation,  which  includes  the  ancient  'Law  of  holiness' 
(Lev.  xvii-xxvi)  and  represents  the  usage  of  the  priests  as  codified  and 
supplemented  during  and  after  the  exile  in  Babylon. 

A  careful  comparison  of  these  three  bodies  of  law  makes  it  evident  that 
they  belong  to  different  periods  of  Hebrew  history  ;  on  one  point  there  is 
practical  unanimity,  viz.  that  the  book  of  the  law  discovered  during  the 
eighteenth  year  of  Josiah's  reign  (621)  in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  was 
none  other  than  the  Deuteronomic  law  (cp.  Cornill,  Einleitung  in  das 
A.  T.  §  9  ;  Ryle,  Canon  of  the  O.  T.  chap.  ii.).  At  any  rate  the  influence 

D    2 


36  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

exaggerate  the  significance  of  this  and  other  similar 
discoveries.  The  fact  that  a  continuous  divine  reve- 
lation was  made  to  the  Hebrew  people  remains 
unaffected  by  inquiry  into  the  nature  and  origin  of 
the  records  which  embody  either  the  history  or  the 
•spiritual  products  of  that  revelation.  At  what  period 
these  records  were  severally  committed  to  writing, 
!out  of  what  materials  they  were  compiled,  under 
what  conditions  they  were  produced  and  reached 
their  present  shape — all  these  are  matters  of  secondary 
importance 1.  To  the  same  category  belong  most 
questions  of  authorship.  It  will  probably  never  be 
precisely  settled  how  much  of  the  great  literary  or 
legislative  creations  which  tradition  assigns  to  Moses, 
'David,  Solomon,  Isaiah,  or  Zechariah,  can  be  truly 
attributed  to  them.  It  is  not  vitally  important  that 
we  should  ever  attain  to  definite  knowledge  on  such 
points,  and  certainly  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  overrate 
the  need  of  exact  information  in  regard  to  matters 
which  do  not  affect  the  substance  of  revelation.  At 
any  rate  a  Christian  apologist  may  conscientiously 
claim  the  right  to  retain  a  perfectly  open  mind  on  the 
purely  literary  questions  that  may  from  time  to  time 
be  under  discussion  among  experts  in  criticism. 

I  have  given  some  bare  illustrations  of  the  changes 
which  our  present  knowledge  involves  in  current 
conceptions  of  the  Old  Testament.  But  in  order  to 
anticipate  objections  it  is  necessary  to  add  two  or 
three  observations  bearing  upon  the  whole  subject 
of  criticism. 

First,  the  results  of  the  higher  criticism  commend 
themselves  to  students  of  the  Old  Testament  on  broad 
grounds  of  historical  probability  and  consistency-. 

of  the  book  of  Deuteronomy  on  the  course  of  the  history  and  on  the 
historical  books  begins  at  that  point  of  time. 

1  Cp.  Westcott,  The  Ep.  to  the  Hebrews,  p.  493. 

2  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  in  J.  C.  p.  234.     '  The  results  [of  Old  Testa- 
ment criticism]  are  broad  and  intelligible,  and  possess  that  evidence  of 
historical    consistency  on  which  the  results  of  special   scholarship  are 
habitually  accepted  by  the  mass  of  intelligent  men  in  other  branches  of 
historical  inquiry.'     Cp.  Sanday,  Bampton  Lectures,  p.  414. 


i]  AND   THE   'HIGHER   CRITICISM'  37 

As  a  branch  of  historical  science,  biblical  criticism 
concerns  itself  with  the  interpretation  of  facts  which 
lie  open  to  the  observation  of  every  attentive  reader 
of  Scripture.  This  task  has  been  pressed  upon  scholars 
partly  by  the  results  of  mere  literary  analysis  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  partly  by  the  accessions  to  our 
knowledge  which  have  been  gained  in  departments 
directly  or  indirectly  illustrative  of  Hebrew  life  and 
religion,  in  the  special  fields  covered  by  archaeological 
and  ethnographical  research,  or  by  the  comparative 
study  of  religions.  The  critical  method  of  dealing 
with  Hebrew  history  is  that  of  comparing  the  actual 
working  institutions  described  or  implied  in  the  historical 
books,  with  those  contained  in  the  legal  parts  of  the 
Pentateuch  ;  its  aim  is  to  reconstruct  the  story  of  Israel's 
development  in  accordance  with  all  the  available 
evidence.  Now  in  regard  to  this  reconstruction  of 
the  history,  it  is  obvious  that  to  a  non-expert  that 
theory  will  ultimately  commend  itself  which  supplies 
the  most  satisfactory  and  comprehensive  explanation 
of  the  divergent  phenomena  *.  Attempts  to  defend 
the  traditional  view  of  Israel's  history  are  too  often 
entirely  unsatisfying.  The  detailed  and  sometimes 
forced  interpretation  of  innumerable  points  of  difficulty 
cannot  be  regarded  as  an  adequate  answer  to  a  massive 
and  consistent  argument  based  on  historical  facts  and 
supported  by  analogy.  We  have  seen  that  the  most 
noticeable  point  in  which  criticism  revises  the  tradi- 
tional view  of  the  Old  Testament  is  the  relative 
position  to  be  assigned  to  the  prophets  and  the  law. 
According  to  the  critical  view  the  Pentateuch  embodies 
the  legal  code  not  of  Mosaism  properly  speaking,  but 
of  post-exilic  Judaism.  In  proof  of  this  position  it  is 
pointed  out  that  in  the  historical  books  we  find  a  state 
of  things  prevailing  which  strikes  at  the  very  root  of 
the  full-blown  levitical  system 2.  For  while  the 


1  Cp.  Sanday,  op.  cit.  p.  215. 

2  See  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  in  J.  C.  pp.  271,  317. 


38  THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

levitical  law  rigidly  restricts  sacrificial  worship  to 
a  single  central  altar  and  shrine,  the  custom  practised 
and  sanctioned  till  a  late  period  in  the  history  of  the 
divided  kingdom  is  freedom  of  sacrifice.  It  appears, 
in  fact,  that  the  central  principle  of  the  Pentateuchal 
legislation  was  either  unknown  or  ignored  before  the 
age  of  Josiah.  It  has  been  shown,  with  what  seems  to 
many  unanswerable  force,  that  the  centralization  of 
worship  and  its  limitation  to  a  single  sanctuary  was 
a  result  only  gradually  achieved ;  that  during  the 
period  previous  to  the  erection  of  Solomon's  temple 
a  totally  opposite  state  of  things  prevailed,  which  was 
apparently  sanctioned  by  judges,  kings,  priests,  and 
prophets  alike ;  that  the  tendency  towards  limitation 
was  encouraged  by  the  great  prophets  of  the  eighth 
century,  who  perceived  and  denounced  the  abuses 
which  had  grown  up  in  connexion  with  the  popular 
cultus  ;  that  a  doubtful  attempt  was  made  by  Hezekiah, 
and  a  somewhat  more  successful  effort  by  Josiah,  to 
abolish  the  local  sacrificial  worship,  but  that  until 
Josiah's  reign  scarcely  a  trace  can  be  discovered  of 
the  observance  in  fact  of  the  Deuteronomic  law  by 
which  sacrifice  was  restricted  to  a  central  sanctuary  1. 
In  this  case  the  references  found  in  the  historical 
books  to  a  centralized  worship  do  not  appear  to  be 
nearly  sufficient  to  outweigh  the  argument  drawn 
from  silence  and  from  plain  facts  which  justifies  the 
critical  theory  2.  It  is  plain  indeed  that  the  general 
conception  of  Israel's  previous  history  formed  by  the 
compilers  of  the  historical  books  does  not  entirely 
correspond  with  the  conclusions  suggested  by  the 
narrative  itself;  and  that  we  have  to  deal  not  merely 

1  Wellhausen,  Prolegomena  to  the  History  of  Israel  (Eng.  Tr.),  ch.  i. 

The  traditional  theory  is  well  stated  by  Dr.  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T. 
inj. C.  pp.  231  foil.  Its  weakness  is  (i)  that  'the  standard  which  it 
applies  to  the  history  of  Israel  is  not  that  of  contemporary  historical 
records  '  ;  (2)  'the  account  which  it  gives  of  the  work  of  the  prophets  is 
not  consistent  with  the  work  of  the  prophets  themselves  ' ;  (3)  in  general, 
there  is  a  serious  discrepancy  between  the  traditional  view  of  the  Penta- 
teuch and  the  evidence  of  the  historical  books  in  regard  to  the  freedom 
of  sacrifice  allowed  by  men  like  Samuel,  David,  and  Elijah. 


i]  AND   THE  'HIGHER   CRITICISM3  39 

with  a  great  mass  of  important  historical  materials  in 
the  Old  Testament,  but  with  theories  and  interpre- 
tations of  history  which  themselves  demand  close  and 
reverent  attention,  but  must  not  be  supposed  to  fore- 
close independent  scientific  investigation  of  recorded 
facts. 

But  further,  in  regard  to  the  literary  composition  of 
the  Old  Testament  writings,  and  especially  of  the 
legal  and  historical  portions,  the  critical  view  falls  in 
with  the  analogy  presented  by  the  phenomena  of  other 
ancient  literatures.  '  Modern  research,'  we  are  told  by 
a  very  candid  friend  of  the  higher  criticism,  '  has 
shown  that  a  considerable  part  of  the  most  ancient 
literature  of  all  nations  was  of  composite  origin,  more 
especially  when  it  was  of  a  historical  or  a  religious 
character.  Older  documents  were  incorporated  into  it, 
with  only  so  much  change  as  to  allow  them  to  be 
fitted  together  into  a  continuous  story,  or  to  reflect  the 
point  of  view,  ethical,  political,  or  religious,  of  the  later 
compiler.  The  most  ancient  books  that  have  come 
down  to  us  are,  with  few  exceptions,  essentially  com- 
pilations V  Accordingly  if  the  literary  analysis  of  the 
Old  Testament  points  to  such  phenomena  as  these : 
gradual  accretions  added  to  the  national  annals, 
frequent  assumption  that  institutions  of  comparatively 
late  date  go  back  to  an  earlier  age,  groups  of  writings 
of  different  style  and  date  connected  with  certain 
historic  names,  the  uniform  ascription  of  laws  to  a 
primitive  legislator — we  are  only  required  to  recognize 
in  Hebrew  literature  the  operation  of  the  ordinary  laws 
observable  in  that  of  other  ancient  nations. 

Speaking  broadly,  the  modern  reconstruction  of  the 
history  can  justify  itself  on  the  one  hand  by  its  general 
accordance  with  the  results  of  a  purely  literary  analysis 
of  the  Old  Testament,  since  the  conception  which 
historical  criticism  has  formed  of  the  general  course  of 

1  Prof.  Sayce,  The  Higher  Criticism  and  the  Monuments,  p.  3.  See 
a  good  description  of  the  phenomena  common  in  secular  writings  of 
antiquity  in  Sanday,  The  Oracles  of  God,  pp.  27,  28. 


40  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

Israel's  history  is  one  that  explains  almost  innumerable 
discrepancies  and  confusions  which  the  traditional  view 
left  unsolved,  or  dealt  with  in  a  superficial  and  unsatis- 
factory manner.  On  the  other  hand,  it  harmonizes 
with  the  knowledge  acquired  in  other  branches  of 
scientific  research  1.  Further,  it  is  worth  while  to  note, 
that  the  admissions  even  of  conservative  writers  on 
Old  Testament  subjects  occasionally  suggest  inferences 
more  far-reaching  than  those  actually  put  forward  by 
their  authors 2.  We  may  welcome  these  admissions 
as  indicating  a  tendency  among  Christian  scholars 
towards  cautious  acceptance  of  at  least  the  main 
positions  of  the  critical  theory,  a  theory  which  is 
favoured  not  only  by  a  mass  of  positive  and  negative 
evidence,  but  also  by  a  striking  degree  of  a  priori 
probability  3. 

Secondly,  it  must  be  frankly  admitted  that  the 
acceptance  of  the  higher  criticism  has  been  hindered, 
not  only  by  the  mistaken  fears  and  a  priori  prejudices 
of  believing  Christians,  but  also  by  the  undisguised 
hostility  to  supernatural  religion  with  which  con- 
spicuous foreign  critics  have  conducted  the  investiga- 
tion of  Old  Testament  subjects.  Critical  theories  have 
been  occasionally  advanced  in  the  interests  of  avowed 

1  The  general  study  of  history  throws  light  not  merely  on  the  formation 
of  the  Old  Testament  books,  but  on  the  character  of  their  contents.  In 
all  early  history  there  is  a  stage  of  myth,  and  a  stage  of  prehistoric 
legend  or  saga.  '  I  hold,'  wrote  the  late  Prof.  Freeman, '  and  I  see  nothing 
in  our  formularies  to  hinder  me  from  holding — that  a  great  part  of  the 
early  Hebrew  history,  as  of  all  other  history,  is  simply  legendary.  I  never 
read  any  German  books  on  these  matters  at  all,  but  came  to  the  con- 
clusion simply  from  the  analogies  supplied  by  my  own  historical  studies.5 
(Life  and  Letters  of E.  A.  Freeman,  by  W.  R.  W.  Stephens,  B.D.,  vol.  i. 

P-  345-) 

a  See  for  instance  Girdlestone,  The  Foundations  of  the  Bible,  p.  42  (on 
the  work  of  the  Chronicler) ;  pp.  138,  139  (on  the  ideal  character  of  the 
Mosaic  legislation) ;  p.  193  ('concessions  and  convictions'). 

3  For  example,  the  late  codification  of  the  Priestly  code  (P)  falls  in  with 
the  evidence  that  among  the  Semitic  tribes  ritual  and  ceremonial  were 
generally  a  matter  of  unwritten  usage  and  traditional  practice  (O.  T.  inj.  C. 
p.  332) ;  it  also  explains  the  object  of  Ezekiel's  Torah  (Ezek.  xl-xlviii), 
and  its  relation  to  the  levitical  legislation ;  moreover,  it  falls  in  with  all 
that  we  know  from  other  sources  of  the  temper  of  the  Jewish  people  after 
its  return  from  exile.  Cf.  Bruce,  Apologetics,  pp.  264-266. 


i]  AND   THE  'HIGHER   CRITICISM'  41 

naturalism  ;  they  have  often  been  dictated  by  disbelief 
in  the  possibility  of  miracle.  Further,  distrust  has 
naturally  been  excited  by  the  arrogance,  the  patronizing 
temper,  the  dogmatism,  the  overweening  confidence  of 
tone,  displayed  by  some  critics.  These  faults  are  noticed 
by  a  brilliant  French  writer  in  a  noteworthy  passage 
which  many  Old  Testament  students  would  endorse. 
Speaking  specially  of  German  criticism,  M.  Darmesteter 
says,  '  It  has  generally  been  wanting  in  flexibility  and 
moderation.  It  has  insisted  upon  knowing  everything, 
explaining  everything,  precisely  determining  every- 
thing. It  has  claimed  to  arrive  at  the  primal  elements 
of  formations  which  have  been  repeatedly  modified 
and  of  which  we  have  only  the  remains.  It  has  intro- 
duced into  the  work  of  reconstruction,  which  ought  to 
sacrifice  facts  that  are  indifferent  or  devoid  of  historical 
significance,  the  scruples  of  an  analytic  method  which 
has  no  right  to  ignore  or  neglect  anything.  Hence 
complicated  and  obscure  theories,  provided  with  odd 
corners  in  which  all  the  details  may  be  sheltered,  and 
which  leave  the  mind  little  opening  or  leisure  to 
observe  the  tendency  of  facts  and  the  general  currents 
of  history1/  Indeed,  a  conspicuous  fault  of  the  critical 
temper  is  its  disinclination  to  make  allowance  for  the 
immense  range  of  our  ignorance,  and  for  the  con- 
sequent difficulty  of  attaining  completeness  and  pre- 
cision beyond  a  limited  sphere  2.  Further,  we  cannot 
fail  to  notice  a  certain  want  of  spiritual  sympathy  with 
the  age  and  writers  of  the  documents  which  are  from 
time  to  time  under  discussion,  yet  such  sympathy  is 
absolutely  necessary  if  we  are  to  avoid  shallowness 
and  presumption  in  estimating  the  evidence3.  It  is 

1  Les  Prophet es  d' Israel,  pp.  4,  5.     The  same  writer  speaks  severely  of 
rationalism  in  the  sphere  of  criticism,     '  Le  rationalisme,  cet  epouvantail 
de  1'orthodoxie,  est  une  chose  bien  differente  de  1'esprit  historique  qui  seul 
est  fecond,  et  auquel  il  est  peut-etre  plus  contraire  que  la  critique  croyante.' 

2  Cp.  Sanday,  Oracles  of  God,  p.  74. 

3  Cp.  Sayce,  op.  cit.  pp.  5,  15.     Girdlestone,  op.  cit.  pp.  195,  196,  says: 
'  They  (critics)  write  as  if  they  expect  everything  to  be  brought  up  to  the 
critical  style  of  the  present  century,  regardless  alike  of  the  age  of  the  books, 


42  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

the  want  of  it  which  formerly  led  some  critics  to  cast 
imputations  on  the  moral  probity  of  the  Old  Testament 
writers. 

While  however  we  allow  that  there  was  much  which 
seemed  to  justify  the  uncompromising  hostility  with 
which  Christian  men  of  the  last  generation  met  the 
advance  of  criticism,  we  must  in  fairness  acknow- 
ledge much  fault  on  our  own  side  l :  much  slowness  of 
heart,  much  want  of  faith  and  undue  timidity,  much 
unreasoning  prejudice,  much  disproportioned  and  mis- 
directed zeal,  much  unwillingness  to  take  trouble,  much 
readiness  to  explain  away  unwelcome  facts,  whereas 
4  explaining  away  is  a  process  which  has  no  place  in 
historical  inquiry  V  We  have  failed  to  do  justice  to 
the  laborious  and  patient  thoroughness,  the  exact  and 
profound  erudition,  the  sagacious  insight  of  the  great 
scholars  of  Germany.  We  have  seldom  made  due 
allowance  for  the  immense  difficulties  of  their  self- 
imposed  task,  we  have  exaggerated  the  deficiencies  of 
their  method  and  the  insecurity  of  its  results 3.  If 
however  in  the  past  suspicion  and  dislike  have  been 
carried  too  far,  there  are  welcome  indications  that  such 
a  temper  is  gradually  disappearing,  and  that  Christians 
are  learning  to  distinguish  more  accurately  between 
what  is  essential  and  what  is  non-essential  to  their 
faith  4.  And  if  it  should  be  objected  that  we  of  this 

of  the  genius  of  the  people,  and  of  the  spiritual  intent  of  the  writers.'  Cp. 
Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  inj.  C.  p.  329. 

1  For  a  frank  admission  of  faults  on  the  traditional  side  see  Girdlestone, 
op.  cit.  p.  196. 

*  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  in  J.  C.  p.  421. 

3  As  Darmesteter  justly  remarks  (Les  Prophttes  d' Israel,  p.  232)  : 
'  Inegalites  d'erudition  et  temerites  de  methode  sont  le  prix  necessaire 
dont  se  paye  toute  synthese  surtout  au  debut  de  la  science.  Ces  syntheses 
prematurees  .  .  .  n'en  sont  pas  moins  d'incomparables  instruments  de 
progres,'  £c. 

1  The  following  passage  from  one  of  Professor  Freeman's  letters  is 
interesting  in  this  connexion  : — 

'  It  seems  to  me  that  the  Old  Testament  history  falls  into  the  hands  of 
two  sets  of  people.  There  is  one  that  thinks  itself  bound  to  defend  every- 
thing at  all  hazards— or,  what  is  worse,  to  ptit  something  out  of  their  own 
heads  instead  of  what  is  really  in  the  book.  And  there  is  another  set  who  take 
a  nasty  pleasure  in  picking  every  hole  they  can  :  the  small  German  critic, 


i]  AND   THE  l  HIGHER   CRITICISM J  43 

generation  are  unfaithful  to  the  traditions  of  those 
venerated  teachers  in  whose  place  we  are  allowed  to 
stand,  we  can  but  reply  that  wisdom  is  justified  of  all 
her  children.  We  whose  training  has  been  in  many 
respects  diverse  from  theirs,  whose  difficulties  and 
responsibilities  are  altogether  different,  cannot  fairly 
plead  their  example  as  an  excuse  for  evading  the  task 
specially  assigned  to  us,  or  for  refusing  to  consider  the 
claims  of  that  which  presents  itself  to  us  in  the  name 
of  truth.  It  is  not  impatience,  or  love  of  novelty,  or 
self-confidence,  or  a  mere  wish  to  be  abreast  of  recent 
thought  that  has  led  to  the  changed  attitude  of 
younger  men ;  it  is  the  desire  to  follow  humbly  and. 
honestly  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit  of  Truth.  There 
comes  a  time  when  suspense  of  judgment,  indefinitely 
prolonged,  may  become  a  breach  of  trust  or  at  least 
a  failure  in  courage.  We  should  be  untrue  to  the  high 
traditions  of  Christian  theology  were  we  simply  to 
reject  the  conclusions  of  criticism  on  the  ground  either 
that  they  conflict  with  private  preconceptions,  or  that 
they  occasionally  emanate  from  quarters  hostile  to  the 
Christian  Faith.  For  while  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to 
point  out  that  a  believer  in  the  Incarnation  will  not 
share  those  antecedent  objections  to  the  supernatural, 
or  those  a  priori  theories  in  regard  to  the  origin  and 
growth  of  religious  ideas,  which  have  doubtless  biassed 
some  continental  critics  in  their  discussion  of  Old 
Testament  problems,  it  is  reassuring  to  remind  our- 
selves of  at  least  one  conspicuous  instance  in  which 
a  great  conception  bearing  vitally  on  religion  reached 
us  from  a  non-Christian  source,  I  mean  the  idea  of 
evolution.  Christians  have  welcomed  that  idea ;  it 
has  profoundly  modified  and  enriched  our  knowledge 
of  the  creative  methods  employed  by  Almighty  God, 
and  of  His  present  relation  to  the  universe.  Yet  this 
idea  at  first  sight  appeared  to  threaten  cherished 

or  rather  guesser.  grown  smaller  and  nastier  because  he  thinks  it  fine. 
From  neither  of  them  will  you  ever  get  truth.'  (Life  and  Letters,  &c., 
vol.  ii.  p.  412.) 


44  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

Christian  beliefs.  Accordingly  we  have  abundant 
reason  for  anticipating  that  the  critical  sagacity  which 
for  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  has  been  devoted  to 
the  literature  of  the  Old  Testament,  wiil  in  the  long 
run  enlarge  our  knowledge  of  the  ways  of  God,  and 
promote  His  glory;  we  may  therefore  appropriate  all 
that  true  criticism  has  to  teach  us  with  the  confidence 
and  trustfulness  of  those  who  believe  that  All  things 
are  theirs.  Since  Christian  faith  has  welcomed  the 
theory  of  development  in  nature,  it  has  no  reason  to 
fear  an  evolutionary  account  of  Hebrew  religion1. 

Once  more,  if  we  are  told  that  the  time  has  not 
really  arrived  for  a  verdict  on  the  results  of  the  critical 
movement  and  that  nothing  can  be  more  foolish  and 
short-sighted  than  premature  concessions,  we  can  only 
be  guided  by  the  opinion  of  experts  in  regard  to  the 
actual  point  which  Old  Testament  inquiries  have 
reached.  Many  competent  authorities  think  that  we 
have  now  entered  on  the  period  of  reconstruction 2. 
This  does  not  mean  that  the  time  has  arrived  for 
pronouncing  a  comprehensive  and  final  judgment  on 
the  labours  of  criticism.  We  must  decline  altogether 
to  be  deeply  committed  on  critical  questions ;  we  may- 
even  hold  that  some  points  which  are  now  confidently 
assumed  to  be  settled  beyond  dispute  are  either 
insoluble,  or  still  highly  uncertain.  But  it  is  main- 
tained, and  as  it  seems  to  me  with  justice,  that  certain 
critical  conclusions  are  practically  established  which, 
even  on  the  lowest  estimate  of  them,  profoundly 
modify  the  traditional  view  of  the  Old  Testament. 
Although  in  the  matter  of  minor  details  we  may  regard 
these  conclusions  as  tentative  and  provisional,  we  must 
not  exaggerate  the  importance  of  such  divergences  of 

1  Cp.  Bruce,  Apologetics,  p.  173. 

2  e.g.  Prof.  Sayce,  The  Higher  Criticism,  &c.,  p.  24.     Robertson  Smith, 
O.  T.  in  J.  C.  p.  1 6  :  '  The  true  critic  has  for  his  business,  not  to  destroy 
but  to  build  up.     The  critic  is  an  interpreter,  but  one  who-  has  a  larger 
view  of  his  task  than  the  man  of  mere  grammars  and  dictionaries— one 
who  is  not  content  to  reproduce  the  words  of  his  author,  but  strives  to 
enter  into  sympathy  with  his  thoughts,  and  to  understand  the  thoughts  as 
part  of  the  life  of  the  thinker  and  his  time.' 


i]  AND   THE  'HIGHER   CRITICISM3  45 

opinion  on  minor  points  as  may  exist  among  critics  at 
the  present  time.  The  question  is  whether  there  is 
not  a  solid  body  of  ascertained  facts  on  which  they  are 
substantially  agreed  l.  Even  if  we  maintain  that  some 
critical  verdicts  need  to  be  revised  or  altogether 
rejected,  or  that  the  preconceptions  on  which  they  are 
based  are  arbitrary  and  untenable,  yet  the  right  and 
duty  of  scholars  to  inquire  into  the  history  of  the  Old 
Testament  literature  cannot  be  gainsaid.  Erroneous 
criticism  cannot  be  corrected  by  dogmatic  theology, 
but  only  by  a  better,  more  searching,  and  less  preju- 
diced criticism  2.  We  must  be  careful  not  to  give  occa- 
sion for  the  reproach  that  the  maintenance  of  a  tradition 
is  of  more  consequence  to  us  than  the  acceptance  of  the 
results  of  scientific  inquiry.  Attempts  to  dispute  the 
importance,  or  minimize  the  significance  of  the  higher 
criticism  are  no  longer  of  any  avail,  but  rather  do  injury 
to  the  cause  of  Christian  truth,  inasmuch  as  they  excite 
the  justifiable  suspicion  that  we  Churchmen  have  not 
the  courage  or  the  moral  force  to  look  facts  fairly  in 
the  face.  It  is  right  to  raise  the  question  whether  our 
general  unwillingness  to  accept  critical  conclusions  is 
due  to  an  honest  disbelief  in  their  validity,  or  whether 
it  results  from  indolent  dislike  of  taking  trouble,  from 
a  narrow  and  inadequate  theory  of  inspiration,  or  from 
a  tendency  to  force  the  Bible  into  a  false  and  untenable 
position — '  a  position  perilous  to  its  authority,  un- 
warranted by  its  own  statements,  and,  worst  of  all,  in 
a  great  measure  obscuring  the  real  power  and  beauty 
of  its  teaching  V 

1  Sanday,  Bampton   Lectures,  p.  120:  'We  may  reasonably  say  that 
what  they  [the  results  of  criticism]  offer  to  us  is  a  minimum  which  under 
no  circumstances  is  capable  of  being  reduced  much  further,  and  that  the 
future  is  likely  to  yield  data  which  are  more,  and  not  less,  favourable  to 
conclusions  such  as  those  adopted  in  these  lectures.'    Cp.  Cheyne,  Aids  to 
the  Devout  St^tdy  o/ Criticism,  p.  172. 

2  Cp.  Kohler,  op.  cit.  p.  68.     Delitzsch,  New  Commentary^  on  Genesis, 
vol.  i.  p.  54,  observes  :  4  Believing  investigation  of  Scripture  will  not  subdue 
this  nuisance  of  critical  analysis  unless  it  wrests  the  weapon  from  its 
adversary's  hand,  and  actually  shows  that  analysis  can  be  exercised  with- 
out thereby  trampling  under  foot  respect  for  Holy  Scripture.' 

8  J.  Paterson  Smyth,  How  God  Inspired  the  Bible,  pp.  15,  16. 


46  THE   CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 


IV. 

Having  now  cleared  the  ground  by  a  definite  state- 
ment of  the  presuppositions  with  which  we  approach 
our  subject,  I  shall  endeavour  in  the  following  lectures 
to  illustrate  the  positive  functions  which  the  Old 
Testament,  viewed  in  the  light  of  modern  research, 
is  intended  to  fulfil  in  the  Christian  Church.  It  may 
be  useful  to  illustrate  the  way  in  which  a  servant  and 
disciple  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  may  still  continue 
to  use  the  Old  Testament,  even  though  inevitable 
changes  have  passed  over  his  conception  of  its  origin, 
structure  and  character.  I  cannot,  however,  conclude 
the  present  lecture  without  a  brief  consideration  of  two 
factors  which  determine  the  true  use  of  Scripture 
and  specially  of  the  Old  Testament :  first,  the  authority 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  and  secondly,  the  collective 
experience  of  the  Christian  Church. 

i.  Nothing  is  more  certain  to  a  devout  Christian 
than  the  fact  that  the  Old  Testament  comes  to  us 
solemnly  commended  by  the  express  authority  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Hence  the  danger  of  ignoring 
and  misunderstanding  its  special  teaching,  or  of  omit- 
ting to  devote  to  it  honest,  reverent,  and  intelligent 
study. 

But  our  study  must  be  discriminating.  We  must 
draw  a  careful  distinction  between  the  inspired  teaching 
of  the  Old  Testament  in  regard  to  divine  and  spiritual 
things,  and  those  many  matters  contained  in  it  which 
fall  within  the  sphere  of  natural  knowledge.  Christ 
did  not  come  into  the  world  to  teach  history  or  science, 
but  to  make  sinful  men  children  of  God  and  heirs  of 
eternal  life.  How  carefully  He  warns  us  in  the 
Gospels  that  there  are  tasks  and  functions  the  fulfil- 
ment of  which  formed  no  part  of  His  mission.  /  am 
not  come  to  call  the  righteous.  I  came  not  to  judge  the 
world,  but  to  save  the  world.  I  came  not  to  do  mine 


i]  AND   THE  'HIGHER   CRITICISM'  47 

own  will.  Man,  who  made  me  a  judge  or  a  divider  over 
you^f  It  was  surely  not  the  purpose  of  His  coming 
to  teach  us  the  exact  course  of  Israel's  history,  or  the 
origin  and  nature  of  the  sacred  books  which  recorded 
it,  but  rather  to  point  men  to  the  sources  from  which 
they  might  learn  necessary  truth  about  the  nature  and 
character  of  God,  His  requirement  of  man  and  His 
purpose  for  the  world.  Search  the  Scrip  titres,  He 
said  to  the  Jews ;  for  in  them  ye  think  ye  have  eternal 
life*.  Considering,  however,  that  both  Christ  and  His 
Apostles  represent  Israel's  history  as  a  preparation 
for  His  coming,  and  refer  to  the  Old  Testament  as 
God's  express  word  concerning  His  previous  dealings 
with  humanity,  a  Christian  cannot  be  satisfied  with 
any  representation  of  the  history  which  denies  that  it 
was  throughout  its  whole  course  a  continuous  prepara- 
tion for  the  coming  of  Christ.  At  the  same  time  he 
will  ever  bear  in  mind  that  the  Incarnation  completed 
the  self-revelation  of  God  which,  in  divers  parts  and 
in  divers  manners,  had  been  communicated  to  mankind 
from  the  first  He  will  remember  that  our  Lord 
nowhere  claims  for  the  Old  Testament  that  it  is  an 
infallible  authority  in  regard  to  such  points  as  the 
course  of  primitive  history  or  of  Israel's  national  de- 
velopment. To  grasp  correctly  and  present  adequately 
the  actual  incidents  of  a  long  historical  movement 
falls  within  the  sphere  of  men's  natural  faculties,  and 
is  a  proper  subject  of  scientific  investigation  according 
to  the  recognized  laws  of  historical  research 3,  and 
consequently  any  appeal  to  Christ's  authority  on  such 
points  is  dangerous  in  so  far  as  it  mistakes  the 
true  purpose  of  His  coming.  He  came  to  reveal 

1  St.  Matt.  ix.  13  ;  St.  John  xii.  47  and  vi.  38  ;  St.  Luke  xii.  14. 

2  St.  John  v.  39... 

8  Cp.  Kohler,  Uber  Berechtigung  der  Kritik  des  A.  T.  pp.  24,  25. 
Valeton,  Christus  und  das  A.  T.  p.  27,  speaking  of  the  appeal  to  Christ's 
authority  on  points  of  scientific  or  historical  research,  well  remarks  :  'Es 
ware  ein  wenigstens  teilweises  Ubertragen  seiner  Bedeutung  von  dem 
Gebiete,  wo  sich  alles  dreht  um  Leben,  Errettung,  und  Seligkeit,  auf  ein 
ganz  anderes  und  fur  diese  Dinge  neutrales  Gebiet,  wo  bloss  Fragen 
wissenschaftlicher  Art  verhandelt  werden.' 


48  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

God  to  men,  and  He  points  to  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures  as  the  source  whence  an  adequate,  if  not 
an  altogether  perfect,  knowledge  of  God  and  of  His 
kingdom  may  be  derived.  And  we  shall  find  that 
criticism  in  no  way  impairs  this  function  of  the  ancient 
Scriptures.  We  approach  them  as  of  old,  only  with 
a  heightened  consciousness  of  the  divine  operation 
which  has  brought  the  Old  Testament  into  its  present 
and  final  form.  That  form  has  been  reached  under 
the  providential  guidance  of  One  who  foresaw  our 
circumstances,  and  who  so  controlled  the  tongue  of 
the  seer,  the  imagination  of  the  poet,  and  the  pen 
of  the  chronicler,  that  their  utterances  possess  an 
abiding  and  progressive  significance,  speaking  with 
fresh  meaning  and  power  to  each  successive  generation 
of  God's  children.  We  must  not  lose  in  any  literary  or 
scientific  investigations  the  characteristic  Christian 
spirit.  We  may  be  keenly  interested  in  the  researches 
of  critics ;  we  may  ourselves  approach  the  Old  Testa- 
ment as  students  of  literature,  as  philologists,  as 
historians,  as  linguists,  as  archaeologists  ;  but,  after  all, 
the  main  interest  must  not,  cannot,  be  merely  scientific 
or  technical ;  it  must  be  ethical  and  spiritual.  The 
distinctively  Christian  temper  is  that  which  approaches 
the  Bible  as  the  record  of  a  real  and  continuous 
revelation  of  God — His  mind,  His  character,  His  moral 
requirement,  His  disciplinary  dealings  with  mankind. 
We  need  to  place  ourselves  on  a  level  with  believing 
students  of  all  ages  who,  apart  from  the  accidental 
circumstance  that  their  critical  knowledge  or  their 
exegetical  methods  were  less  perfect  than  ours,  do 
nevertheless  set  before  us  an  example  of  the  true 
spirit  in  which  Scripture  should  be  approached  and 
used.  They  do  not  allow  personal  tastes  or  predi- 
lections to  blind  them  to  the  real  purpose  of  Scripture. 
They  do  not  suffer  any  subordinate  interest  to  interfere 
with  the  primary  object  of  biblical  study,  which  is  to 
make  us  wise  unto  salvation1,  to  teach  us  about  man 

1  2  Tim.  iii.  15. 


i]  AND   THE   'HIGHER   CRITICISM'  49 

and  his  need  of  Christ,  about  God  and  His  purpose 
for  humanity,  about  the  conditions  of  acceptable  wor- 
ship and  the  attainment  of  perfect  character. 

2.  It  remains  to  estimate  briefly  the  importance  of 
Christian  experience.  It  might  be  asked  why  Christian 
faith  is  more  or  less  independent  of  critical  contro- 
versies in  regard  to  the  Old  Testament  ?  The  answer 
is  because  the  Bible  is  *a  book  of  experimental 
religion1';  it  depicts  in  each  of  its  various  stages  the 
history  of  an  actual  friendship  between  God  and  man. 
The  most  potent  factor  in  the  formation  of  the  canon 
was  undoubtedly  religious  experience.  The  Old 
Testament  books  gained  their  authority  and  their 
place  in  the  sacred  library  because,  as  a  thoughtful 
critic  has  said,  ' they  commended  themselves  in 
practice  to  the  experience  of  the  Old  Testament 
Church  and  the  spiritual  discernment  of  the  godly 
in  Israel  V  The  Mosaic  dispensation  did,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  educate  in  devout  Israelites  a  certain 
faculty  of  spiritual  insight ;  it  produced  a  high 
level  of  religious  knowledge  and  affection ;  it  trained 
powers  of  discrimination  which  could  be  entrusted 
with  the  delicate  task  of  gradually  selecting  or  deter- 
mining the  contents  of  the  Old  Testamemt  canon. 
At  the  period  when  the  necessity  for  collecting  a 
canon  was  realized,  most  of  the  Old  Testament  books 
were  already  familiar  to  the  faithful,  who  found  tn 
them  the  light  of  their  consciences  and  the  food  of 
their  spiritual  life.  In  fact,  the  canon  assumed  its  final 
shape  and  gradually  attained  to  authority  as  the  result 
rather  of  an  experimental  process,  than  of  theological 
reflection  or  discussion.  For  the  canonical  books, 
sufficiently  at  least  for  all  purposes  of  religious  edifi- 
cation, illustrated  the  great  evangelical  truths  by  which 
faith  is  kept  alive  3.  They  gave  adequate  expression 

1  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  in  J.  C.  p.  8.  2  Ibid.  p.  162. 

3  On  this  point,  so  far  as  it  bears  upon  the  Jewish  limitation  of  the  Old 
Testament  to  the  *  canonical '  books  and  the  exclusion  of  others,  see  an 
excellent  passage  in  Buhl,  Canon  and  Text  of  the  O.  T.  [Eng.  Tr.j  §  22. 


50  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  [LECT. 

to  the  vital  needs  which  divine  revelation  satisfied. 
Indeed  in  large  part  that  which  we  call  with  some 
freedom  of  expression  the  word  of  God  is  actually 
the  word  of  man,  since  it  gives  utterance  to  the  appeals, 
the  supplications,  the  questionings,  the  yearnings 
after  God,  which  make  the  Bible  a  universal  book, 
reflecting  the  experience  and  the  wants  of  humanity  ]. 
And  the  authority  of  the  Bible,  like  that  of  Jesus 
Christ  Himself,  lies  in  the  directness  of  its  response  to 
man's  needs.  Like  the  Lord's  own  teaching,  Scripture 
is  self-evidencing.  Like  Him,  it  speaks  directly  to  the 
hearts  and  consciences  of  men,  and  its  divine  origin 
and  authority  is  vindicated  by  the  continuous  testimony 
of  Christians  who  have  verified  its  message  ;  and  let 
us  remember  that  its  appeal  to  our  generation  is 
4  strengthened  incalculably  by  the  results  of  that  same 
appeal  to  the  minds  and  hearts  and  consciences  of 
every  preceding  generation  2.' 

Spiritual  experience  then  lies  behind  the  record  in 
which  it  is  enshrined,  and  this  leads  us  to  the  observa- 
tion that,  after  all,  Christian  faith  is  essentially  inde- 
pendent of  the  Old  Testament.  The  great  fundamental 
verities  are  not  learned  by  us  from  the  pages  of  the 
ancient  Scriptures.  For  instance,  the  writer  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  reminds  us  that  we  learn  the 
fact  and  the  true  significance  of  the  world's  creation, 
not  from  the  pages  of  Genesis,  but  as  the  result  of 
Christian  faith3;  we  find  the  verification  of  the  fall 
of  man  in  universal  experience ;  we  infer  the  pity  of 
God  for  the  human  race  from  the  upward  movement 
which  has  marked  its  development  and  which  culmi- 
nates in  the  advent  of  the  Son.  In  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, Christian  faith  puts  itself  to  school  with  the 
saints  of  the  preparatory  dispensation  ;  it  enters  into 
their  hopes  and  fears ;  it  takes  their  language  of  love 
or  trust  on  its  lips ;  it  learns  how  they  regarded  those 
great  acts  of  God  to  which  their  whole  history  bears 

1  Cp.  J.  Paterson  Smyth,  op.  cit.  p.  122. 
2  Ibid.  p.  27.     Cp.  pp.  21,  22.  8  Heb.  xi.  3. 


i]  AND   THE  'HIGHER   CRITICISM*  51 

undying  witness.  But  faith  carries  with  it  a  religious 
test  learned  in  the  school  of  Christ :  it  appropriates 
everything  in  the  Old  Testament  which  can  edify  the 
conscience,  while  it  passes  by  all  that  falls  short  of 
Christ's  teaching ;  thus  it  sometimes  sets  aside  what 
the  ancient  saints  extolled — the  vengeance  of  Jael,  for 
instance,  or  David's  treatment  of  Moab — discriminat- 
ing freely  between  what  is  profitable  for  the  spiritual 
life  and  what  belongs  to  a  lower  stage  of  human 
development 1. 

There  is  one  final  reflection  specially  appropriate  in 
this  connexion.  We  have  noticed  the  attestation 
which  is  given  by  Christian  experience  to  the  function 
of  the  Old  Testament,  but  what  has  been  said  after 
all  amounts  to  the  assertion  that  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures  are  an  integral  part  of  a  treasure  which 
peculiarly  belongs  to  the  Church  of  God — that  divine 
society  which  exists  as  the  living  witness  of  God's 
continuous  self-revelation  in  the  world  and  which 
appeals  to  the  Scriptures  as  corroborating  her  own 
primary  testimony  to  God's  truth.  Believing  then,  as 
we  do,  that  new  and  impressive  views  of  God's  pro- 
vidence are  being  opened  out  to  us  by  the  gradual 
advance  of  critical  science,  and  that  a  revelation  is 
being  made  to  us  respecting  God's  word  in  Scripture 
parallel  to  that  which  is  already  familiar  to  us  in  the 
sphere  of  physical  nature,  we  shall  realize  the  far- 
reaching  importance  of  that  foundation  doctrine  of  the 
Church  which  God  seems  to  have  restored  to  us  in 
time  to  enable  us  to  deal  with  the  critical  question 
dispassionately  and  fearlessly.  We,  in  this  University, 
are  not  likely  to  forget  the  honoured  names  of  those 
great  spiritual  leaders  to  whom,  under  God,  we  owe 
the  recovery  of  this  doctrine ;  nor  can  we  easily  over- 
rate its  vast  significance.  The  doctrine  has  a  plain 
bearing  on  our  present  inquiry.  The  Church  of  God ! 

1  Cp.  Kb'hler,  op.  cit.  pp.  64,  65.  Aug.  de  doctrina,  ii.  8,  gives  a  rule 
for  determining  the  canonicity  of  different  books  which  presupposes  the 
guidance  of  organized  experience. 

E    2 


52  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH,   ETC. 

— we  belonged  to  her,  her  message  was  delivered  to  us, 
her  powers  were  at  work  upon  us  before  we  were 
able  to  read  a  line  of  the  Bible.  She  taught  us  that 
in  the  Bible  God's  voice  was  to  be  heard,  but  the 
manner  in  which  it  speaks  she  did  not  define.  Thus 
the  way  has  been  left  open  for  those  who  might 
competently  instruct  us  in  regard  to  the  methods 
actually  employed  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  We  certainly 
are  not  true  to  the  mind  of  the  Church,  nor  to  that  lofty 
temper  which  St.  Paul  commends  to  the  Corinthians 
as  specially  characteristic  of  Christians,  if  we  fail  to 
appreciate  and  worthily  use  the  gift  of  new  knowledge 
with  which  this  age  of  scientific  criticism  has  enriched 
us.  We  approach  the  Old  Testament  with  reverent 
interest  as  believers  in  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of 
God ;  with  a  deep  sense  of  our  own  insufficiency  as 
believers  in  fche  mystery  of  inspiration,  and  finally  with 
the  quietness  and  confidence  of  those  whose  feet  are 
planted  on  the  rock  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church, 
that  city  of  God  which  claims  as  her  own  all  that  is 
good  in  human  character,  all  that  is  precious  in  human 
life,  all  that  is  true  in  human  knowledge.  All  things 
are  yours,  whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or  Cephas,  or  the 
world,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things  present,  or  things  to 
come ;  all  are  yours  ;  and  ye  are  Christ's  ;  and  Christ 
is  Gods. 


LECTURE    II 

But  continue  thou  in  the  things  which  thou  hast  learned  and  hast  been 
assured  of,  knowing  of  whom  thou  hast  learned  them  j  and  that  from 
a  child  thou  hast  known  the  holy  scriptures,  which  are  able  to  make  thee 
wise  unto  salvation  through  faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus. — 2  Tim.  iii. 
14,  15. 

IN  this  passage  St.  Paul  at  once  indicates  the  scope 
and  purpose  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  prescribes  the 
condition  of  using  it  profitably.  He  begins  by  stating 
the  reasonable  ground  on  which  the  authority  of  the 
Christian  Church  is  based.  Continue  thou,  he  says  to 
Timothy,  in  the  things  which  thou  hast  learned  and 
hast  been  assured  of,  knowing1  of  whom  thou  hast  learned 
them.  The  acceptance  of  authority  in  itself  implies  an  act 
of  the  moral  judgment.  The  individual  submits  himself 
to  the  guidance  of  the  Christian  community  mainly 
because  it  exhibits  an  impressive  consensus  of  belief  in 
regard  at  least  to  certain  fundamental  truths,  but  the 
testimony  of  the  Church  is  commended  and  enforced 
by  the  spiritual  life  and  character  which  lie  behind  it. 
The  neophyte  can  venture  upon  an  act  of  self-com- 
mittal, because  his  reason  tells  him  that  the  highest 
type  of  human  excellence  within  the  sphere  of  his 
observation  has  its  roots  in  the  creed  of  Christendom. 
In  verse  15  the  apostle  appeals  to  Timothy's  personal 
experience  and  training.  From  a  child  he  has  been 
taught  to  study  the  '  sacred  writings '  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  to  find  in  them  the  necessary  guidance 
of  his  religious  thought  and  conduct.  The  peculiar 
function  of  these  Scriptures  is  to  make  wise  iinto  salva- 


54  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS   OF  [LECT. 

tion.  The  very  phrase  conveys  a  warning  that  men 
may  approach  Holy  Scripture  not  only  in  a  wrong 
temper  and  spirit,  but  under  a  positive  misconception 
as  to  its  true  purpose.  The  study  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  calculated  to  impart  'wisdom' — the  knowledge, 
that  is,  of  the  great  principles  of  divine  action  in  the 
world,  of  the  conditions  under  which  man  can  be 
admitted  to  fellowship  with  his  Creator  ;  knowledge 
which  is  contrasted,  on  the  one  hand,  with  the  intel- 
ligence or  insight  (vvvevis)  which  apprehends  the 
immediate  purpose  of  God,  on  the  other  hand,  with 
the  practical  wisdom  (Qpovrjo-is)  which  dictates  right 
courses  of  action.  The  condition  of  acquiring  this 
wisdom  is  faith  resting  on  Christ  Jesus.  The  true 
function  of  the  Old  Testament  can  only  be  rightly 
estimated  from  the  standpoint  of  faith  in  one  whose 
coming  was  from  the  first  destined  to  crown  the  entire 
history  of  revelation. 

Leaving  on  one  side  the  exegesis  of  this  particular 
passage,  let  us  pass  on  to  consider  some  general  aspects 
under  which  the  Old  Testament  presents  itself  to  the 
Christian  student.  Viewed  historically,  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  the  sacred  book  of  Judaism,  the  charter  so  to 
speak  of  the  community  which  was  organized  by  Ezra 
and  Nehemiah  on  the  basis  of  the  levitical  law  and  of 
the  sacrificial  cultus  of  the  post-exilic  sanctuary.  It 
embodies  the  account,  first,  of  the  origin,  historical 
career,  and  peculiar  character  of  the  holy  community 
and  of  its  sacred  institutions  ;  secondly,  of  the  divine 
communications  imparted  to  it  from  time  to  time 
through  the  agency  of  the  prophets.  Thirdly,  it 
contains  products  of  religious  emotion  and  reflection, 
which  illustrate  the  spiritual  influences  that  prevailed 
in  the  Jewish  Church  and  helped  to  mould  its 
character.  Lastly,  the  Old  Testament  depicts  the 
external  circumstances  and  conditions  under  which 
Judaism  grew  to  maturity1.  But  the  interest  of 
a  Christian  in  the  ancient  scriptures  cannot  be  merely 

1  Cp.  Dalman,  Das  A.  71  ein  Wort  Gottes,  p.  13. 


n]  THE   OLD    TESTAMENT  55 

literary  or  archaeological.  He  will  be  concerned  with 
other  aspects  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  of  these  five 
especially  seem  to  deserve  attention. 

The  Old  Testament  is  to  be  studied,  in  the  first 
place,  as  a  record  of  the  history  of  redemption.  It 
contains  the  account  of  a  continuous  historical  move- 
ment of  which  the  originating  cause  was  the  grace  of 
God  and  the  aim  the  salvation  of  the  human  race.  It 
scarcely  requires  to  be  stated  that  this  aspect  of  the 
Old  Testament  opens  very  serious  and  urgent  questions 
in  regard  to  the  precise  character  and  extent  of  the 
strictly  historical  element  in  the  ancient  narratives. 
Secondly,  the  Old  Testament  is  the  authentic  record 
of  a  divine  revelation.  It  describes  the  course  of  a 
progressive  self-manifestation  of  God,  of  the  unveiling 
to  man  according  to  his  needs  and  capacities  of 
a  supreme  personality  to  whom  he  finds  himself 
standing  in  necessary  and  intimate  relationship. 
Thirdly,  the  Old  Testament  may  be  treated  as  the 
history  of  a  covenantal  relationship  between  man  and 
God,  of  a  continuous  converse  or  friendship  which 
from  the  first  depended  on  moral  conditions,  and  ever 
tended  towards  a  more  perfect  mode  of  union  between 
the  divine  and  human  natures.  Fourthly,  the  Old 
Testament  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  record  of  a  growing 
anticipation  or  hope,  the  hope  which  we  call  Messianic, 
and  which  found  expression  not  merely  in  ancient 
oracles  and  prophecies,  but  also  in  the  symbolic  institu- 
tions of  the  chosen  people.  This  expectation  was 
rooted  in  spiritual  experience,  outlived  even  the  most 
formidable  disasters  which  overtook  the  Hebrew 
nation,  and  found  its  accomplishment  in  an  event 
of  which  only  a  chosen  few  were  able  to  recognize  the 
true  significance.  Lastly,  the  Old  Testament  is  to  be 
studied  as  the  revelation  of  a  divine  purpose,  not 
merely  for  a  particular  nation  or  even  for  humanity  at 
large,  but  also  for  the  individual  soul  in  its  frailty  and 
solitariness,  its  sense  of  accountability,  its  presages  of 
immortality. 


56  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS   OF  [LECT. 

In  the  present  lecture  these  five  aspects  of  the 
subject  will  be  dealt  with  in  general  outline.  The 
ensuing  lectures  will  elaborate  each  in  somewhat 
fuller  detail.  The  classification  does  not  pretend  to  be 
exhaustive,  but  it  will  probably  be  found  to  embrace 
the  main  points  which  are  of  special  interest  to 
Christian  students  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  which 
are  more  or  less  affected  by  the  discoveries  of  recent 
criticism  and  research.  At  any  rate,  ample  scope  will 
be  provided  for  illustrating,  the  new  points  of  view  in 
regard  to  scripture  which  we  owe  to  the  labours  of 
modern  scholarship.  Our  ideas  of  the  methods 
actually  employed  in  divine  revelation  will  perhaps  be 
enlarged,  while  some  misconceptions  may  be  removed 
which  have  hitherto  hindered  some  minds  from  profit- 
ably studying  the  Old  Testament.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  may  be  led  to  a  more  intelligent  use  of  the 
materials  that  are  now  available  for  those  who  desire 
to  form  a  true  estimate  of  Israel's  place  and  function 
in  the  history  of  religion. 

I.  In  the  first  place,  then,  we  are  to  study  the  Old 
Testament  as  a  history  of  redemption.  This  point  of 
view  enables  us  at  once  to  discern  the  significance  and 
purpose  of  that  sublime  statement  of  fundamental 
truths  which  forms  the  vestibule,  so  to  speak,  to  the 
edifice  of  the  Old  Testament1.  The  early  chapters 
of  Genesis  contain  the  presuppositions  which  alone 
could  render  welcome  and  intelligible  the  thought  of 
a  redemptive  movement  on  the  part  of  God  for  the 
salvation  of  men.  They  describe  the  creation  of  the 
world  by  God,  the  formation  of  man  in  the  Creator's 
own  image,  the  entrance  of  moral  evil,  and  the  divine 
purpose  of  restoration. 

It  will  be  convenient  at  this  point  to  discuss  these 
wonderful  narratives,  which  are  essentially  poetical  in 

1  Cp.  Dillman,  Comm.  on  Genesis,  p.  viii :  '  Die  Genesis  ist  die  Vor- 
bereitung  zu  den  folg.  Buchern  oder  gleichsam  die  Vorhalle  zu  dem 
Tempel  der  Theokratie  dessen  Errichtung  in  den  folg.  Buchern  dargestellt 
wird.' 


n]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  57 

their  form,  and  clearly  stand  on  a  different  level  from 
the  historical  books  properly  so  called,  which  are  to  be 
considered  separately  in  a  subsequent  lecture.  They 
deal  not  with  the  substance  of  redemptive  history,  but 
rather  with  the  facts  of  human  nature  which  lie  behind 
it ;  and  consequently  any  prolonged  discussion  re- 
specting the  nature,  sources,  or  scientific  value  of  the 
*  narrative  of  the  origins '  is  for  present  purposes 
irrelevant,  or  at  least  of  very  secondary  importance. 
Even  a  slight  observation  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
Hebrew  mind  will  suffice  to  show  us  that  the  scientific 
interest,  if  it  existed  at  all,  occupied  an  entirely  sub- 
ordinate place  in  the  religious  thought  of  an  Israelite1, 
and  thus  the  story  of  the  origins,  though  cast  in 
a  quasi-historical  or  mythical  form,  is  in  fact  in- 
stinct with  a  religious  aim.  It  does  not  appear  to 
have  had  any  peculiar  or  special  connexion  with 
Israel,  but  was  in  some  form  or  other  common  to 
other  branches  of  the  Semitic  race.  The  current 
traditions  of  the  Creation,  the  Fall,  and  the  Flood, 
are  employed  as  a  suitable  medium  for  expressing  the 
fundamental  thoughts  of  true  religion :  the  distinctness 
of  God  from  the  created  universe ;  the  immediate 
dependence  on  Him  of  all  being  at  each  stage  of  its 
development,  and  the  essential  goodness  of  that 
which  owes  its  existence  to  Him.  To  the  student 
of  comparative  religion  it  is  no  doubt  of  great  interest 
to  notice  that  in  the  story  of  the  origins  we  have 
a  narrative  which  shows  clear  traces  of  connexion  with 
Chaldaean  traditions;  to  the  believer  in  divine  inspira- 
tion it  is  of  chief  importance  to  notice  how  primitive 
myth  is  consecrated  to  spiritual  uses,  and  how  in  the 
process  it  is  purged  of  all  that  is  puerile  or  immoral, 
the  main  outlines  of  the  original  Babylonian  story 
being  retained,  while  the  lower  elements  in  it  are 
entirely  overmastered  by  the  sublime  spiritual  thoughts 

..*  Cp.  Schultz,  Old  Testament  Theology  [Eng.  Tr.],  ii.  180;  Kohler, 
Liber  die  Berechtigung  der  Kritik  des  A.  T.  pp.  25,  26  ;  Driver.  Serm.  on 
O.  T.  Subj.  No.  if 


58  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS   OF  [LECT. 

of  a  lofty  religion  *.  Such  elements  are  indeed  only 
survivals,  like  the  survivals  in  natural  history,  serving, 
for  aught  we  know,  some  beneficent  purpose,  showing 
that  Israel's  religion  had  its  roots  in  a  Semitic 
paganism,  from  which  under  the  impulse  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  it  gradually  emancipated  itself.  No  student 
of  the  Old  Testament  will  find  serious  difficulty  in  the 
existence  of  mythical  or  even^^oi^dtlie^ticelements  n 
which  have  in  fact  become ^the  m^ 
religious  ideas,  and  which  have  been  so  far  stripped 
of  their  original  character  as  to  serve  the  purposes 
of  a  monotheistic  system  2.  '  Where  the  Assyrian  or 
Babylonian  poet  saw  the  action  of  deified  forces  of 
nature,  the  Hebrew  writer  sees  only  the  will  of  the 
one  supreme  God  3/  It  is  only  necessary  to  remark 
in  passing  that  we  have  here  the  earliest,  and  in  some 
respects  the  most  striking,  illustration  of  a  law  which 
pervades  the  entire  religious  development  of  the 
people  of  God.  The  higher  faith  retains  elements 
derived  from  the  lower  stages  of  religion,  but  only  to 
regulate  and  to  purify  them,  or  in  some  cases  even  to 
pass  explicit  judgment  upon  them.  While  in  fact  it  is 
abundantly  clear  that  the  religion  of  Israel  presupposes 
the  nature-worship  of  the  ancient  Semitic  peoples,  it 
is  equally  certain  that  it  displayed  from  the  very  first 
an  upward  tendency  in  the  direction  of  a  spiritual 
monotheism.  The  ultimate  outcome  of  Israel's  long 
discipline  manifests  the  reality  of  that  continual  and 
delicate  divine  pressure  which  lifted  a  rude  and 
barbarous  tribe  above  its  surroundings  and  raised  it 
to  the  throne  of  spiritual  influence,  in  reference  to 
which  Athanasius  declares  that  Israel  was  '  a  sacred 


1  Cp.  Wellhausen,  op.  cit.  pp.  304,  305,  314. 

2  Schultz,  op.  cit.  i.  1 1 8. 

3  Sayce,  The  Higher  Criticism  and  the  Monuments ^  p.  71..    Cp.  Renan, 
Histoire  du  peuple  d' Israel,  bk.  i.  ch.  4.     Renan  illustrates  at  length  the 
influence  of  Babylonia  on  the  Hebrew  story  of  the  origins,  and  points 
out  how  'A  free  will,  as  implied  by  the  words  He  created,  substituted 
for  ten  thousand  capricious  fancies,  is  a  progress  of  its  kind '  [Eng.  Tr. 
p.  67]. 


u]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  59 

school  of  the  knowledge  of  God  and  of  the  spiritual 
life  for  all  the  world1/ 

The  account  of  creation  is  followed  by  other  funda- 
mental statements  relating  to  man's  nature  and  destiny, 
the  entrance  of  sin,  and  its  culmination  in  death  and 
divinely  inflicted  judgment.  Distinctive  of  the  Old 
Testament  is  the  view  that  man  was  created  in  the 
divine  image,  that  by  the  law  of  his  original  constitu- 
tion he  was  a  personal,  self-conscious,  and  spiritual 
being,  designed  for  communion  with  his  Maker 2,  and 
endowed  with-faculties  enabling  him  to  fulfil  a  spiritual 
destiny.  Here  again  we  do  not  look  for  scientific 
anthropology,  but  rather  for  a  conception  of  human 
nature  based  upon  experience  and  reflection.  The 
narrative  of  the  Fall  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  particular 
solution,  in  poetical  form,  of  a  problem  which  at 
a  very  early  period  presented  itself  to  human  thought. 
In  its  essence  the  Fall  consists  in  man's  conscious 
choice  of  something  lower  than  God  Himself,  something 
antagonistic  to  His  revealed  will.  It  is  the  perversion 
or  defect  of  will ;  it  is  aversion  from  God  3.  The 
inspired  story  of  Genesis  suggests  profound  spiritual 
truths  in  regard  to  the  character  rather  than  to  the 
origin  of  human  sin.  It  presents  a  picture  entirely 
true  to  nature  of  the  awakening  of  moral  consciousness 
and  of  that  which  is  its  ordinary  sequel :  the  recogni- 
tion by  man  that  his  will  is  out  of  harmony  with  the 
requirements  of  the  moral  order  ;  the  instinctive  dread 
of  severance  from  the  source  of  all  life ;  the  discovery 
of  the  true  significance  of  death  for  a  spiritual  being  ; 
the  consciousness  of  physical  evil  as  an  impediment 
and  obstacle  in  the  way  of  human  development.  The 
biblical  narrative  is,  in  fact,  the  Hebrew  solution  of 
a  fact  which  is  quite  independent  of  the  scriptural 
evidence  and  is  attested  by  the  moral  experience  of 

1  de  Incarn.  c.  xii. 

2  Schultz,  ii.  238  :  '  The  seal  of  the  Elohim  nature  is  stamped  as  it  were 
on  the  substance  of  the  fleshly  nature.' 

3  Ath.   c.   Gent,   v    77    ra>v    K/jeirroj/cov    d-rroarpo  prj.       Greg.    Nyss.   Or  at. 
Catech.  v  17  QTTO  TOV  KaXoO  TTJS  >//"i  x 


60  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS  OF  [LECT. 

humanity  l.  The  narratives  then  are  apparently  in- 
tended simply  to  justify  and  render  credible  the 
revelation  of  a  divine  love  displayed  in  man's  restora- 
tion. It  is  noticeable  that  they  tell  us  nothing  in 
regard  to  the  conditions  of  primitive  civilization. 
They  merely  indicate  that  man's  original  state  was  not 
what  it  is  now.  They  do  not  suggest  that  he  was 
perfect  in  the  sense  that  he  attained  at  once  to  com- 
plete development.  They  imply  'a  living  commence- 
ment which  contained  within  itself  the  possibility  of 
a  progressive  development  V  Man  was  destined  to 
develope  upwards,  and  a  certain  measure  of  com- 
munion with  his  Creator  was  intended  to  guide  and 
condition  his  progress,  by  giving  to  it  impulse, 
direction,  and  stability.  But  the  interest  of  the 
earliest  compilers  is  primarily  soteriological.  Original 
sin  is  for  them  the  starting-point  of  a  divine  purpose 
of  recovery  —  of  an  historical  movement  passing 
through  stages  of  orderly  development  and  working 
mainly  from  within  the  fallen  race  itself3. 

The  story  of  the  Flood  brings  into  view  the 
principal  factor  in  salvation — the  gracious  action  of 
God  crowning  and  rewarding  the  faith  of  man.  The 
details  of  the  story  may  appear  to  curious  inquirers 
contradictory  or  even  impossible 4  ;  nevertheless,  the 
narrative  gives  expression  to  the  religious  thought 
that  while  God  in  His  wrath  visits  sinful  man  with 
unsparing  calamities,  even  at  the  very  moment  when 
he  least  expects  it,  yet  in  the  midst  of  His  judgments 
He  guides  and  protects  His  own  elect.  Christians 

1  Coleridge,  Aids  to  Reflection,  aphorism  cix ;    Mozley,  Lectttres  and 
other  Theological  Papers,  ix,  x.  Observe,  in  his  allusions  to  the  fall  St.  Paul 
does  not  always  connect  the  fact  with  Adam.     He  rather  insists  that  'all 
have  sinned'  (Rom.  iii.  23).     So  Athanasius  (e.g.)  describes  the  fall  in 
plural  terms.     See  c.  Gent,  iii;  de  Incarn.  v.     It  is  the  apostasy  not  of 
a  man,  but  of  mankind,  that  is  the  occasion  of  redemption.     Rom.  vii.  21 
shows  that  the  point  of  importance  is  the  existence  of  a  uniform  law,  which 
in  the  Hebrew  story  is  represented  as  resulting  from  the  physical  connexion 
between  the  human  race  and  its  first  progenitor. 

2  Martensen,  Christian  Dogmatics,  §  78. 

3  Cp.  Oehler,  Theology  of  the  O.  T.  §  7. 

4  Cp.  Meinhold,  Jesus  und  das  A.  T.  p.  114,  &c. 


n]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  61 

accordingly  are  not  concerned  to  maintain  that  the 
narrative  as  it  stands  is  literally  correct.  It  is  enough 
to  learn  from  it  those  true  conceptions  of  God's  char- 
acter and  action  which  formed  the  basis  of  Israel's 
faith,  and  which  have  been  verified  by  the  subsequent 
religious  experience,  not  of  Israel  only,  but  of  man- 
kind. 

The  Old  Testament,  then,  regarded  as  a  history 
of  human  redemption,  starts  with  certain  necessary 
presuppositions  which,  though  embodied  in  a  primitive 
and  childlike  form,  find  their  verification  ultimately  in 
the  moral  experience  of  mankind.  The  precise  value 
and  importance  of  the  historical  books  will  occupy  our 
attention  later.  Meanwhile,  it  will  be  appropriate  in 
this  general  survey  of  the  subject  to  notice  briefly 
two  particular  features  which  give  a  distinctive  char- 
acter to  the  sacred  history. 

In  the  first  place,  the  course  of  redemption  is 
marked  at  various  points  by  the  occurrence  of  the 
supernatural.  In  the  Old  Testament  history  divine 
action  or  intervention  is  represented  as  having  been 
specially  conspicuous  at  certain  great  crises  or  epochs, 
particularly  it  would  seem  on  occasions  when  Jehovah 
willed  to  manifest  Himself  as  unique  or  supreme 
among  the  supposed  deities  of  heathendom,  and  accord- 
ingly miraculous  powers  are  usually  attributed  only  to 
a  few  leading  instruments  of  revelation,  such  as  Moses, 
Elijah,  and  Elisha  l.  Now  it  cannot  be  questioned  that 
a  complete  self-manifestation  of  the  divine  nature 
demands  action  as  well  as  utterance,  and  that  miracles 
of  grace  and  power  are  constitutive  elements  that 
may  be  antecedently  expected  in  any  authentic  revela- 
tion of  God 2.  The  abstract  possibility  of  miracle 
seems  to  be  necessarily  implied  in  the  religious  con- 
ception of  God  as  a  free,  spiritual  being,  to  whom  the 
moral  interests  of  the  universe  are  of  higher  importance 
than  the  uninterrupted  maintenance  of  physical  law. 

1  Oehler,  The  Theology  of  the  O.  T.  §  63. 

2  Cp.  Bruce,  The  Chief  End  of  Revelation,  p.  168. 


62  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS  OF  [LECT. 

Miracle  is  also  a  natural  element  in  any  revelation  of 
grace  which  takes  the  form  of  action  rather  than 
speech,  for,  as  Dr.  Bruce  observes,  '  the  maximum  of 
gracious  possibility  cannot  be  manifested  without 
miracle  V  A  logical  theism  must  claim  for  God  the 
power  to  intervene  in  His  own  universe  on  behalf  of 
His  good  purpose'2',  and  to  display  His  entire  exemption 
from  any  bondage  to  the  present  order  of  nature  or  to 
the  past  course  of  history  3.  In  point  of  fact  it  is 
creative  epochs  in  the  history  of  religion  that  seem 
generally  to  be  signalized  or  heralded  by  an  excep- 
tional coruscation  of  miracle.  Indeed,  if  the  Old 
Testament  be  the  record  of  a  divine  movement  des- 
tined to  culminate  in  the  Incarnation  and  Resurrection 
of  the  Son  of  God,  a  miraculous  element  in  the  history 
seems  to  be  not  only  antecedently  probable,  but  even 
necessary,  as  indicating  the  special  purpose,  direction, 
and  moral  quality  of  the  divine  action  4.  This  general 
defence  of  the  Old  Testament  miracles  does  not,  how- 
ever, imply  a  belief  that  every  supernatural  occurrence 
related  in  the  different  books  literally  happened  exactly 
as  it  is  described.  Since  it  is  admitted  that  the 
majority  of  the  historical  books  only  attained  their 
present  form  centuries  after  the  occurrence  of  many 
of  the  events  recorded  in  them,  we  may — at  least 
while  the  date  of  the  original  materials  out  of  which 
they  were  compiled  remains  uncertain — safely  allow 
the  possibility  of  cases  in  which  poetical  or  hyper- 
bolical language  has  been  hardened  into  concrete  fact. 
It  has  been  suggested  that  this  is  a  probable  explana- 

1   The  Chief  End  of  Revelation,  p.  175.  2  Phil.  ii.  13. 

8  See  Isa.  xliii.  18,  &c.  Cp.  the  remarks  of  A.  Ritschl,  Unterricht  in 
der  christlicJien  Religion  (Bonn,  1886),  §  17:  'Die  religiose  Betrachtung 
der  Welt  1st  daraut  gestellt,  dass  alle  Naturereignisse  zur  Verfugung 
Gottes  stehen,  wenn  er  den  Menschen  helfen  will.  Demgemass  gelten 
als  Wunder  solche  auffallende  Naturerscheinungen,  mit  welchen  die 
Erfahrung  besonderer  Gnadenhilfe  Gottes  verbunden  ist,  welche  also 
als  besondere  Zeichen  seiner  Gnadenbereitschaft  fur  die  Glaubigen  zu 
betrachten  sind.  Deshalb  steht  die  Vorsteilung  von  Wundern  in  noth- 
wendiger  Wechselbeziehung  zu  dem  besonderen  Glauben  an  Gottes 
Vorsehung,  und  ist  ausserhalb  dieser  Beziehung  gar  nicht  moglich.' 

*  Cp.  A.  L.  Moore,  Science  and  the  Faith,  pp.  98,  99. 


n]  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  63 

tion  of  the  narrative  which  describes  the  standing  still 
of  the  sun  at  the  command  of  Joshua1.  Nor  is  it 
a  matter  of  crucial  importance  to  contest  the  opinion, 
whatever  it  may  be  worth,  that  even  in  the  case  of 
great  personages  belonging  to  a  much  later  age,  there 
has  been  a  somewhat  free  ascription  of  symbolic 
miracles.  Thus,  in  the  case  of  Elijah  and  Elisha 
it  is  sometimes  maintained  that  the  analogy  of  secular 
history  points  to  a  possible  growth  of  popular  tradition, 
filling  up  or  adding  to  the  record  of  their  mighty 
deeds.  Differences  of  opinion  in  regard  to  the  precise 
extent  of  the  undoubtedly  historical  nucleus  contained 
in  the  narratives  relating  to  such  heroic  figures  may 
reasonably  be  admitted.  In  any  case  the  miracles, 
whether  actually  performed  or  popularly  ascribed,  fore- 
shadowed the  redemptive  works  of  the  incarnate  Son. 
To  lay  equal  stress  on  the  miracles  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament and  on  those  of  our  Lord  not  only  involves 
a  serious  confusion  of  thought ;  it  implies  misappre- 
hension of  the  true  character  of  the  Old  Testament 
and  forgetfulness  of  the  principle  expressed  in  Augus- 
tine's maxim,  Sicut  Veteri  Testamento,  si  esse  ex  Deo 
bono  et  summo  negetur,  ita  et  Novo  Jit  injuria  si  Veteri 
aequetur. 

Secondly,  we  may  notice  a  general  principle  which 
underlies  the  redemptive  action  of  God,  namely,  the 
principle  of  limitation  or  severance.  The  tendency  of 
Hebrew  history  is  towards  specialization  :  the  action 
of  a  purpose  of  God  according  to  election  2  is  observable. 
The  entire  story  of  Genesis,  for  instance,  consists  in 

1  Kittel,  History  of  the  Hebrews,  vol.  i.  p.  303  [Eng.  Tr.],  says  of 
Joshua  x.  12-14:  'This  [event]  can  signify  nothing  but  an  extraordinary 
duration  of  the  day  of  battle  which  allowed  Joshua  to  finish  his  martial 
day's  work.  The  daylight  held  out  till  the  work  of  vengeance  on  the 
enemy  was  completed.  Joshua  has  poetically  glorified  this  in  the  song  as 
a  standing  still  of  the  sun,  because  he  knew  of  no  other  explanation.' 
Kittel  implies  that  a  miracle  did  take  place,  but  the  reviser  of  the  book  of 
Joshua  turned  the  song  'into  matter-of-fact  prose.'  Renan,  Histoire, 
£c.,  bk.  ii.  ch.  3,  gives  a  simple  literary  and  linguistic  explanation  of  the 
passage,  on  which  Judg.  v.  20  sheds  some  light.  A  parallel  instance 
is  perhaps  to  be  found  in  Num.  xxii.  28. 

a  Rom.  ix.  ii. 


64  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS  OF  [LECT. 

a  series  of  separations.  Even  the  account  of  creation 
itself  begins  by  recording  an  act  of  severance  as  if  it 
were  a  constant  law  of  the  divine  action  :  God  divided 
the  light  from  the  darkness,  the  waters  above  the 
firmament  from  those  below,  the  dry  land  from  the 
seas  \  In  the  actual  history  this  law  of  severance 
meets  us  in  a  new  form  as  the  principle  of  election, 
according  to  which  the  few  are  set  apart  and  educated 
in  order  that,  by  their  means,  blessing  may  be  extended 
to  the  many.  The  account  of  the  patriarchs  is  so 
framed  as  to  give  -special  prominence  to  the  idea  of 
election2,  but  it  already  emerges  in  Gen.  iv.  26,  where 
a  contrast  is  implied  between  the  world-power  and  the 
worshippers  of  the  true  God.  And  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  same  principle  gives  us  the  true  key  to 
the  significance  of  Israel's  entire  history.  It  is  uncer- 
tain at  what  point  in  its  career  the  truth  of  its  election 
was  fully  realized  by  the  nation,  but  it  is  clear  that  the 
divine  purpose  -was  in  process  of  fulfilment  from  the 
first.  This  people  have  I  formed  for  myself ;  they  shall 
shoiv  forth  my  praise 3.  At  the  earliest  stage  of  its 
national  existence  Israel  was  reminded  of  the  purpose 
for  which  it  had  been  separated  from  the  nations  of 
the  world.  Even  in  the  primitive  forecast  of  its  great 
destiny  a  universalistic  element  was  present4;  in 
Abraham  and  his  seed  all  the  nations  of  the  earth 
were  to  "be  blessed ;  and  subsequently  Israel  was 
taught  that  He  who  had  brought  the  nation  to  Him- 
self, with  the  design  of  making  it  a  kingdom  of  priests 
and  a  holy  nation,  was  no  merely  national  God  like  the 
deities  of  the  heathen,  but  the  Lord  of  all  the  earth5. 
Israel  was  chosen,  as  we  may  well  believe,  in  prefer- 

1  Gen.  i.  4,  6,  10. 

2  See  Gen.  xii.  3  ;  xiii.  14;  xv.  5  ;  xvii.  5  ;  xviii.  17-19;  xxii.  16,  &c. 

3  Isa.  xliii.  21.     The  doctrine  of  Israel's  election  seems  to  be  most 
clearly  brought  out  by  the  prophets  of  the  eighth  century,  and  a  stimulus 
was  given  to  the  conception  by  the  publication  of  Deuteronomy.     See 
Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  124 ;  Sanday,  Bampton  Lectures,  p.  163. 

*  Cp.  Bruce,  Apologetics,  pp.  198,  199. 
6  Cp.  Exofl.  xix.  5,  6;  Joshua  iii.  n. 


n]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  65 

ence  to  other  nations  '  because  in  genius  and  temper  it 
was  best  fitted  to  realize  God's  purposes  towards  man, 
to  be  the  channel  of  His  grace,  and  to  develope,  through 
many  failures,  an  ideal  of  godliness  and  faith  V  But 
if  Israel  was  called  to  be  the  medium  of  a  blessing 
designed  for  humanity  at  large,  the  privilege  imposed 
high  obligations.  For  the  Hebrew  people  was  chosen 
to  be  the  depositary  of  a  purer  faith  and  loftier 
morality  than  that  recognized  by  other  races.  Hence 
the  necessity  of  Israel's  isolation  from  the  surrounding 
heathen  and  its  subjection  to  a  special  moral  discipline. 
It  was  the  task  of  the  eighth-century  prophets  to  bring 
home  to  the  nation  the  ideal  purpose  of  its  separation 
from  the  world  and  the  bearing  of  God's  elective 
action  on  the  spiritual  destinies  of  mankind.  There 
is  true  discernment  in  the  fine  remark  of  Irenaeus, 
'Jehovah  brought  His  people  out  of  Egypt  in  order 
that  man  might  once  more  become  a  disciple  and 
follower  of  God 2/  The  ultimate  object  of  the  divine 
grace  was  not  Israel,  but  humanity. 

In  speaking  of  the  Old  Testament  as  a  history  of 
redemption,  we  do  not  mean  that  it  furnishes  a  com- 
plete history  of  Israel.  It  has  been  said  with  truth 
that  the  Old  Testament  rather  '  supplies  the  materials 
from  which  such  a  history  can  be  constructed  3/  It  is 
indeed  a  record  of  God's  action  in  history,  but  one  that 
is  marked  by  special  purpose  and  character,  interpreting 
what  it  narrates,  and  selecting  facts  according  to  some 
inner  principle  of  fitness.  The  historian  may  justly 
require  that  the  record  in  its  main  outlines  should 
be  adequate  and  that  Israel's  interpretation  of  its  own 
history  should  be  in  essential  points  trustworthy.  But 
we  shall  see  that  it  is  unwise  to  over-estimate  the 
extent  of  the  strictly  historical  element  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament. The  selection  of  facts  and  the  mode  of  their 
presentation  are  dictated  not  so  much  by  a  merely 

1  Driver,  Serm.  on  the  O.  T.  p.  57. 

2  Iren.  Haer.  iv.  16.  3.     Cp.  Bruce,  Apologetics^  p.  182. 

3  Robertson  Smith  in  his  preface  to  Wellhausen's  Prolegomena,  p.  vii. 


66  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS  OF  [LECT. 

historical  interest  as  by  a  sense  of  the  religious  import 
of  what  is  narrated.  '  It  has  not  pleased  God/  says  a 
recent  writer,  '  to  convey  to  us  instruction  concerning 
the  ancient  period  [of  Israel's  history]  in  the  form  of 
indisputably  historical  documents ;  consequently  the 
external  details  of  the  narrative  cannot  be  for  us  the 
matters  of  chief  significance.  Occasionally  the  pro- 
phetic elucidation  of  material  not  in  itself  religious 
may  be  the  important  thing  in  a  particular  book.  For 
example,  to  a  historian  the  narratives  in  the  book  of 
Judges  which  relate  the  exploits  of  Hebrew  heroes  are 
more  important  than  the  Deuteronomic  framework ; 
yet  it  is  precisely  this  framework  that  gives  the  book 
its  canonical  character.  The  historical  and  the  canoni- 
cal valuations  of  a  book  follow  different  laws,  and  go 
in  different  directions  V  The  evident  aim,  generally 
speaking,  of  the  writers  and  compilers  of  the  sacred 
history  is  to  convey  and  emphasize  a  certain  religious 
impression,  not  to  give  a  complete  or  rigidly  accurate 
picture  of  events. 

II.  The  second  of  those  general  aspects  of  the  Old 
Testament  which  will  occupy  our  attention  is  by  far 
the  most  important.  The  Old  Testament  does  not 
merely  contain  the  history  of  a  divine  redemptive 
movement :  it  is  also  the  record  of  a  self-revelation  of 
Almighty  God  ;  it  describes  the  gradual  disclosure 
of  the  divine  name  and  attributes.  The  permanent 
interest  of  Israel's  history  for  mankind  lies  in  the 
fact  that  in  the  history  a  supreme  moral  personality 
is  unveiled.  Israel's  sacred  literature  is  primarily 
a  school  of  divine  knowledge  for  the  whole  world. 

o 

Now,  that  the  Old  Testament  exhibits  a  gradual 
evolution  of  the  idea  of  God  is,  of  course,  indisputable. 
Naturalistic  criticism  gives  its  own  clear,  plausible, 
intelligible  account  of  the  gradual  advance  of  Israel's 
belief.  In  the  earliest  stage  of  Semitic  thought  the 
divine  nature  is  vaguely  conceived  in  polytheistic 
fashion  as  distributed  among  a  plurality  of  beings 

1  Dalman,  Das  A.  T.  ein  Wort  Gottes,  p.  15. 


n]  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  67 

whose  operation  lies  hidden  behind  the  various  pro- 
cesses of  nature.     As  the  consciousness  of  tribal  unity 
is    developed,   each   tribe   recognizes  a   special    deity, 
linked  to  itself  by  ties  of  interest  and  natural  affinity. 
When  different  tribes  coalesce  and  realize  something 
of  national  unity,  the  deity  is  elevated  to  the  position 
of  a  national  god,  united  by  a  special   bond   to  one 
particular    people    and    land.       Presently,    when    the 
nation  comes  into  conflict  with  neighbouring  peoples 
and  their  gods,  the    dignity    and   importance    of  the 
deity   is   enhanced    in    proportion   to   the   measure  of 
national  success  in  warfare.     He  is  honoured  as  the 
mighty  god  whose    power   extends  even  beyond  the 
limits  of  his   own  special  sphere  of  influence.     With 
the  advance  of  culture  and  civilization,  men  recognize 
moral   qualities  in   their  god,  attributing  to   him  the 
virtues  which  they  fear  or  reverence  in  their  fellow- 
men.     As  the  horizon  of  human  thought  widens,  the 
deity  is  acknowledged  to  be   a  righteous  being  who 
controls  and  guides  the  destinies,  not  only  of  his  own 
subjects,    but    also    those    of  alien    nations.     Finally, 
when  the  faculties  of  abstraction  and  reflection  have 
reached  a  certain  point  of  development,  the  conception 
is  formed  of  one  God,  the  creator  of  all  things,  reign- 
ing in  solitary  majesty  over  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
The  whole  process  is  thus  represented  as  one  of  simple 
natural  development,  and  the  idea  of  special  revelation 
is  set  aside  as  unwelcome  and  unnecessary. 

As  is  usually  the  case,  the  same  set  of  facts  is  capable 
of  being  interpreted  in  two  distinct  ways  and  from  two 
opposite  points  of  view.  The  real  question  at  issue  in 
our  present-day  controversy  with  naturalistic  criticism 
is  whether  or  no  God  is  a  living  being1,  to  whom 
the  spiritual  interests  of  mankind  are  of  supreme  im- 
portance, and  who  at  each  stage  of  development, 
physical  or  moral,  is  Himself  present  in  the  universe 

1  See  Oettli,  Der  gegenwartige  Kampf  um  das  A.  T.  p.  13 ;  Valeton, 
Christus  und  das  A.7'.^.l. 

F  2 


68  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS  OF  [LECT. 

as  an  impelling,  directing  and  overruling  cause1.  The 
distinctive  feature  of  Israel's  religion  is  prophetism, 
and  where  the  voice  of  inspired  prophecy  is  heard,  God 
is  specially  at  work  in  history ;  the  purely  naturalistic 
account  of  the  phenomena  breaks  down.  It  is  no  part 
of  our  present  task,  however,  to  discuss  so  fundamental 
a  point  as  this.  There  can  be  no  question  in  regard 
to  the  belief  of  those  who  felt  themselves  to  be  not 
chance  discoverers  of  interesting  truths,  but  inspired 
organs  of  divine  revelation.  We  may  observe,  however, 
that  the  idea  of  a  gradual  evolution  in  the  conception 
of  God  is  expressly  recognized  by  the  Old  Testament 
itself.  One  main  object  of  the  priestly  narrative  which 
forms  the  basis  of  the  Pentateuch  seems  to  be  that  of 
indicating  successive  stages  in  the  self-revelation  of 
God,  each  stage  being  apparently  marked  by  some 
new  declaration  of  the  divine  name,  in  other  words, 
by  some  express  manifestation  of  His  character.  It 
will  be  our  duty  to  examine  hereafter  the  theological 
import  of  these  several  names.  At  this  point  it  is  only 
necessary  to  notice  the  general  outlines  of  the  Old 
Testament  doctrine  of  God,  surveyed  as  a  whole.  The 
divine  self-revelation,  be  it  remembered,  was  chiefly- 
embodied  in  action  and  history.  Indeed  the  Bible 
contains  very  little  of  mere  abstract  teaching  or  formal 
doctrine  ;  the  character  of  God  and  His  relation  to  the 
universe  are  rather  left  to  be  inferred  from  His  action. 
To  the  prophets  the  supreme  interest  of  human  history 
lies  in  its  being  a  sphere  of  observation  in  which  the 
attributes,  purposes  and  methods  of  God  may  be 
studied.  And  the  very  foundation  of  Israel's  national 
history  was  constituted  by  an  event  to  which  in  later 
times  the  religious  mind  of  the  people  continually 
reverted, — a  signal  historical  deliverance,  an  act  of 
divine  intervention,  which  in  itself  implied  a  unique 
manifestation  of  God's  nature  and  character.  The 
incidents  of  the  exodus  could  scarcely  fail  to  suggest 
some  general  ideas  about  God  which  the  whole  subse- 

1  Cp.  Oettli,  op.  cit.  p.  4. 


n]  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  69 

quent  history  was  destined  to  elucidate,  confirm,  and 
enlarge  ;  even  at  this  early  stage  there  emerged,  so  to 
speak,  the  ideas  of  the  divine  unity,  the  divine  holiness, 
the  divine  grace,  that  is,  the  willingness  and  power  of 
God  to  redeem. 

We  should  be  passing  beyond  the  limits  of  pro- 
bability if  we  insisted  that  the  exodus  did  more  than 
suggest  these  ideas.  It  will  scarcely  be  disputed  that 
they  can  have  been  apprehended^  perhaps  not  very 
distinctly,  only  by  a  few  leading  spirits  in  the  newly- 
formed  nation  ;  and  they  were  not  openly  preached,  so 
far  as  we  can  judge,  until  the  period  of  the  eighth- 
century  prophets.  In  the  book  of  Deuteronomy  they 
may  be  said  to  be  leading  and  characteristic  theses. 
Take,  for  instance,  the  first  of  the  ideas  now  in  question 
—that  of  the  divine  unity.  An  unbiassed  study  of  the 
Old  Testament  discloses  to  us  the  gradual  develop- 
ment of  the  conception.  It  is  practically  certain  that 
in  its  earlier  stages  the  worship  of  the  ordinary 
Hebrew  was  not  monotheistic  but  monolatrous.  Till 
a  comparatively  late  period  the  average  Israelite  seems 
to  have  believed  in  the  existence  of  other  gods  than 
Jehovah — deities  who  stood  in  the  same  relation  to 
foreign  tribes  and  nations,  as  that  in  which  Jehovah 
stood  to  Israel.  Prof.  Riehm  draws  attention  to  the 
tendency,  common  apparently  among  tribes  of  Semitic 
descent,  to  acknowledge  a  special  tribal  god.  The 
natural  basis  on  which  a  true  monotheism  could  be 
securely  built  up  was  formed  by  monolatry  or  heno- 
theism l.  Israel's  earliest  religious  lesson  was,  in 
fact,  learned  on  the  Red  Sea  shore.  In  the  mar- 
vellous deliverance  of  His  people  from  the  tyranny 
of  Egypt,  Jehovah  was  already  proved  to  be  at  least 
incomparable,  or  unique,  among  gods  2.  It  was  not  as 
yet  distinctly  perceived,  at  least  by  the  mass  of  the 

1  ATI.  Theologie,  p.  45.     Renan,  Histoire  du  peuple  d' Israel,  bk.  I, 
ch.  i,  remarks   that   'even  from   the  most   ancient  times   the   Semite 
patriarch  had  a  secret  tendency  towards  monotheism,  or  at  least  towards 
a  simple  and  comparatively  reasonable  worship.' 

2  Exod.  xv.  ii.     Cp.  I  Sam.  ii.  2 ;  Isa.  xl.  25. 


70  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS  OF  [LECT. 

ransomed  people,  that  Israel's  God  was  the  Lord  of  all 
the  earth.  He  was  regarded  as  the  tribal  god  of  the 
Hebrews,  fighting  its  battles,  and  claiming  its  allegiance, 
in  opposition  to  the  gods  of  surrounding  nations.  It 
has  been  thought  by  some  critics  that  the  idea  of 
Jehovah's  uniqueness  only  appears  in  the  early  period 
of  the  monarchy 1 ;  but  it  is  more  probable  that  it  arose 
as  a  direct  consequence  of  the  events  of  the  exodus. 
That  solemn  crisis  in  Israel's  history  signally  manifested 
the  impotence  and  insignificance  of  other  gods  in 
comparison  of  Jehovah.  Thus  the  foundation  of 
a  consistent  monotheism  was  laid,  not  in  any  definite 
declarations  of  the  divine  unity — such  as  we  find  at 
a  later  period — but  in  a  practical  proof  that  other 
' Elohim  were  powerless  to  resist  the  will  of  the  Deity 
who  had  chosen  Israel  for  Himself  and  had  wrought 
its  salvation 2.  The  exodus  manifested  the  incompar- 
able glory  and  irresistible  might  of  Israel's  God.  And 
indeed  during  the  period  of  its  conflict  for  the  posses- 
sion of  the  promised  land  Israel  was  too  deeply 
absorbed  in  practical  tasks  to  feel  any  special  interest 
in  the  question  whether  other  gods  '  had  or  had  not 
metaphysical  existence.  The  practical  point  was  that 
Jehovah  proved  Himself  stronger  than  they  by  giving 
Israel  victory  over  their  worshippers3/  And  so  long 
as  other  supernatural  beings  were  regarded  as  merely 

1  Cp.  Darmesteter,  Les  Prophetes  d' Israel,   pp.   23,  24:    'Avec  les 
victoires  de  David,  avec  les  splendeurs  de  Salomon,  avec  la  construction 
du  temple  qui  donne  enfin  a  Jehovah  une  demeure  fixe  et  a  son  culte  un 
centre  de  plus  en  plus  absorbant,  Jdhovah  devient  de"finitivement  le  dieu 
propre  d'Israel.     Les  triomphes  de  David  prouvent  qu'il  est  plus  puissant 
que  les  dieux  voisins  :  Qui  est  comme  toi  parmi  les  £lohim,  6  Jehovah  ? ' 

2  Cp.  Oehler,  Theol.  of  the  O.  T.  §  43  ;  Konig,  The  Religious  History 
of  Israel  [Eng.  Tr.J,  p.  74- 

3  Robertson  Smith,  The  Prophets  of  Israel  (ed.  i),  p.  60.    Darmesteter, 
op.  tit.  pp.  217,  218,  seems  to  state  the  case  correctly  :  '  La  tribu  ...  est 
polythe'iste,  puisque  le  croyant  reconnait  la  multiplicite  des  forces  et  des 
volontes  divines  et  croit  a  plus  de  dieux  qu'il  n'en  adore  ;  mais  elle  est 
monothe'iste  en  ce  qu'elle  se  livre  spe*cialement  a  un  seul,  monothe'isme 
chancelant,  qui  se  concilie  parfaitement  avec  1'idolatrie  et  transportera 
aisement  son  obedience  et  ses  offrandes  de  Jahve  k  Molokh,  Baal  ou 
Camoch,  etc.  .  .  .  Mais  ce  monotheisme  incertain,  idolatrique  et  sans 
morale,  contient  en  germe  le  monothe'isme  strict.' 


n]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  71 

relative,  and  incapable  of  resisting  the  one  God  of 
Israel's  allegiance,  a  naive  belief  in  the  existence 
of  other  y Elohim  did  not  necessarily  conflict  with  the 
idea  of  the  divine  unity.  Prof.  Schultz  justly  observes 
that  *  Where  it  is  a  matter  of  religion,  not  of  philosophy, 
the  first  and  necessary  thing  always  is  the  conviction 
of  having  God  as  one's  own,  and  of  being  also 
God's — not  the  consideration  of  how  this  God  stands 
related  to  the  possibility  of  there  being  other  gods  V 
At  the  same  time  there  is  ample  reason  for  supposing 
that  there  was  a  constant  tendency  in  the  spiritual 
leaders  of  Israel,  or  at  least  in  the  special  organs  of 
divine  revelation,  to  combat  the  popular  notion  that 
Jehovah  was  merely  one  God  among  many.  Certainly 
the  whole  drift  of  the  chapters  in  which  the  events 
connected  with  the  exodus  are  narrated,  is  the  exalta- 
tion of  Jehovah  as  the  one  being  whose  existence, 
influence,  and  righteous  will  it  behoved  the  chosen 
people  to  acknowledge2.  It  is  probable  on  a  priori 
grounds  that,  though  the  age  of  what  may  be  called 
theoretic  monotheism  was  introduced  by  the  teaching 
of  the  eighth-century  prophets,  the  idea  of  the  divine 
unity  was  an  inference,  so  to  speak,  from  premisses 
which  the  exodus  had  suggested  to  reflective  minds. 
Such  an  event  could  not  fail  to  give  birth  to  the  thought, 
on  the  one  hand,  of  Jehovah's  irresistible  might,  on  the 
other,  of  His  moral  transcendence.  Here  we  seem  to 
have  the  historic  basis  of  the  doctrine  of  the  divine 
unity3. 

There  are,  then,  good  reasons  for  the  supposition  that 
a  strictly  monotheistic  belief  does  not  date  from  the 
earliest  period  of  Israel's  national  existence.  On  the 
contrary,  there  are  unmistakeable  indications  that  a 
belief  in  the  actual  existence  of  other  deities  survived 
to  a  comparatively  late  age.  The  existence  of  heathen 
gods  was  not  uniformly  denied.  They  were  either 

1  O.  T.  Theology,  i.  180. 

2  See  Exod.  viii.  10 ;  ix.  14,  16  ;  x.  2 ;  xv.  2,  II,  18. 

3  Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures,  pp.  134,  135. 


72  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS   OF  [LECT. 

regarded  as  'Elilim,  '  nothings'  * ;  or  they  were 
supposed,  if  existent  at  all,  to  be  subordinate  instru- 
ments of  the  one  God:  Jehovah  alone  was  God  of  gods 
and  Lord  of  lords 2.  The  ascription  however  of  unique 
majesty  to  the  national  Deity  tended  towards  His 
elevation  to  the  dignity  of  an  only  existent  Lord  of 
the  universe3. 

The  facts  of  the  case  thus  justify  the  idea  of  evolu- 
tion in  religious  thought  which  historical  analogy  itself 
might  antecedently  suggest.  We  have  no  interest  in 
maintaining  that  Israel's  religion  sprang  to  the  birth, 
perfect  and  complete,  in  the  age  of  Moses.  The 
monotheistic  idea  had  a  long  history  even  within  the 
limits  of  the  chosen  race  whose  mission  it  was  to  teach 
mankind  the  knowledge  of  God.  But  the  idea  seems 
to  have  been  closely  connected  with  another  which 
next  claims  our  attention,  namely,  that  of  the  divine 
holiness.  '  The  belief  that  Jehovah  was  the  only  God,' 
says  Prof.  Kuenen,  '  sprang  out  of  the  ethical  concep- 
tion of  His  being4.'  The  question  is  at  what  period 
such  a  conception  first  appeared.  What  is  contended 
is  that  the  events  of  the  exodus  could  not  fail  to 
introduce  certain  moral  elements  into  the  idea  of  God 
which  Israel  inherited  from  its  Semitic  ancestors. 

The  truth  of  the  divine  holiness,  in  its  developed 
form,  is  one  of  those  ideas  which  impart  a  unique 
character  to  Israel's  religion.  It  was  a  truth  which 
other  religions  were  constantly  striving  to  express,  and 
which  the  universal  human  conscience  instinctively  anti- 
cipated in  external  institutions  of  worship.  But  Israel 
alone  was  enabled  to  lift  the  idea  of  holiness  from  the 
purely  outward  and  ritual,  into  the  inward  and  ethical 

1  DvvN  Lev.  xix.  4  ;  2  Kings  xvii.  15;  Jer.  ii.  5;   viii.   19.     See  also 
Deut.  iv.  19;  x.  17;  Ps.  xcv.  3  :  xcvi.  5.     Cp.  I  Cor.  viii.  5,  6. 

2  Cp.  Pfleiderer,  Gifford  Lectures,  vol.  ii.  48  ;  Ritschl,  Unterricht  in  der 
Christlichen  Religion,  §  ii.     The  belief  in  the  existence  of  other  gods 
seems  expressly  indicated  in  such  passages  as  Exod.  xv.  n ;  Judges  xi.  24  ; 
Ruth  i.  16;  I  Sam.  xxvi.  19  ;  2  Sam.  xiv.  16. 

3  Cp.  Darmesteter,  op.  cit.  pp.  213,  214. 

*  Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  119  ;  ap.  Montefiore,  op.  cit.  p.  135. 


n]  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  73 

sphere,  and  thereby  gave  to  its  religion  a  distinctness 
from  all  other  faiths  not  only  in  degree  but  in  kind  l. 
What  then  is  the  historical  genesis  of  this  idea  ?  If  the 
date  of  the  documentary  evidence  is  disputed,  we  are 
left  to  a  balance  of  probabilities  ;  and  there  are  at  least 
some  considerations  in  favour  of  the  view  that  the  pro- 
cess by  which  the  notion  of  holiness  was,  so  to  speak, 
moralized  began  at  the  period  of  the  exodus.  Jehovah 
is  first  described  as  '  holy  '  in  the  Song  of  Moses,  and 
the  term  apparently  implies  merely  the  negative  notion 
of  'separation/  or  possibly  'transcendence2.'  The 
'holy'  God  is  He  who  is  raised  absolutely  above  the 
world,  and  is  thereby  separated  from  the  creature. 
Of  earthly  things,  every  object  or  being  is  holy  in  so 
far  as  it  is  appropriated  to  religious  service,  or  is 
withdrawn  from  common  uses.  Originally  therefore 
holiness,  even  as  applied  to  persons,  was  not  in  any 
sense  a  moral  attribute  ;  it  implied  only  ritual  separa- 
tion 3,  and  we  can  almost  trace  the  process  by  which, 
under  the  influence  of  prophetic  teaching,  the  idea  of 
holiness  passed  from  an  outward  to  an  inward  sphere, 
from  the  notion  of  external  consecration  or  dedication 
to  that  of  moral  sanctity.  But  it  is  in  relation  to  the 
divine  Being  Himself  that  the  word  *  holy'  is  specially- 
remarkable  —  not  only  because  the  conception  of  holi- 
ness was  constantly  elucidated  by  every  fresh  stage  in 
the  self-revelation  of  God,  but  also  because  it  was  the 
basis  of  that  peculiar  consciousness  of  Israel's  function  (v^ 
in  the  world  which  is  characteristic  of  the  later  prophets 
and  of  the  priestly  school  who  impressed  upon  Israel 
its  permanent  and  ineffaceable  stamp  of  separateness. 
Ye  shall  be  holy  ;  for  I  am  holy.  Israel,  as  belonging 


1  Cp.  A.  L.  Moore  in  Lux  Mundi,  p.  72  foil. 

2  Exod.  xv.  ii.     Cp.  Isa.  xl.  25  ;  Ps.  xcix.  2  foil. 

3  On  '  holiness  '  see  Robertson  Smith,  Prophets  of  Israel,  pp.  224  foil.  ; 
Oehler,  op.  cit.  §§  44,  45  ;  Riehm,  A  77.  Theologie,  §  12.    As  is  well  known, 
the  idea  of  '  holiness  '  (separation)  was  common  to  the  heathen  neighbours 
of  Israel,  and  might  incidentally,  e.g.  in  the  case  of  the  'holy'  persons  of 
Canaanitish  nature-worship,  imply  consecration  to  immoral  purposes.  See 
Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  pp.  90,  192. 


74  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS   OF  [LECT. 

to  Jehovah  by  redemptive  right,  must  necessarily 
participate  in  His  character,  and  look  upon  itself  with 
something  of  the  reverence  due  to  what  is  divine. 
We  are  justified  in  believing  that  the  idea  of  its 
holiness,  its  call  to  consecration,  is  the  secret  of  that 
fine  spirit  of  self-respect  which  has  never  abandoned 
Israel  even  in  the  most  stormy  and  sorrowful  vicis- 
situdes of  its  subsequent  history. 

Holiness,  then,  seems  to  be  a  conception  which  had 
its  roots  in  the  circumstances  of  the  Mosaic  age.  It 
was  a  keynote  of  national  polity  and  organization 
from  the  first.  In  calling  God  'holy'  Mosaism 
guarded  the  truth  of  the  divine  transcendence ;  it 
protested,  as  it  were,  against  the  religious  error  of 
contemporary  heathendom,  Egyptian  or  Canaanitish, 
which  confused  nature  with  God,  and  as  it  were 
degraded  God  into  the  region  of  the  creature.  In 
calling  things  or  persons  *  holy,'  Mosaism  lifted  them, 
so  to  speak,  out  of  the  region  of  what  was  profane 
or  unclean  into  a  divine  sphere.  But  the  whole 
tendency  of  Mosaism  was  to  develope  and  extend 
the  idea.  True,  holiness  in  the  ethical  sense  was 
far  from  being  Israel's  present  character ;  rather  it 
was  the  nation's  ideal  goal  and  destiny  \  While  then 
the  '  holiness '  of  the  newly-formed  nation  was  in  the 
first  instance  a  mark  or  character  impressed  from 
without  on  its  physical  and  social  life,  and  found 
embodiment  in  visible  ordinances  relating  to  external 
and  ceremonial  purity,  '  holiness '  was  ultimately 
destined  to  be  transformed  into  an  inward  quality  or 
attribute,  a  real  separateness  not  from  mere  bodily 
uncleanness  but  from  spiritual  and  moral  defilement ; 
aloofness  not  from  the  idolatrous  pollutions  of  Egypt, 
but  from  sin.  Thus  the  character  of  Jehovah's  chosen 
people  was  to  be  conformed  to  that  of  Him  who 
had  sealed  them  as  His  own. 

There    was    yet    another   idea   which    the    exodus 

1  As  God's  own  people  Israel   is  £?1p,   Exod.  xix.   6  ;    Lev.  xx.   26, 
opposed  to  ~>n  Lev.  x.  10 ;  i  Sam.  xxi.  5  foil. ;  Ezek.  xxii.  26. 


n]  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  75 

suggested,  and  which  subsequent  periods  of  reflection 
served  to  impress  permanently  on  the  mind  and 
imagination  of  Israel,  viz.  the  idea  of  Jehovah's 
redemptive  grace.  In  the  deliverance  of  His  people 
God  had  manifested  Himself  as  one  who  is  able  and 
willing  to  redeem  ;  able  because  He  is  almighty1,  free 
from  anything  like  entanglement  in  the  processes 
of  nature,  and  having  perfect  liberty  to  intervene 
with  direct  personal  energy  in  the  history  of  men 
and  nations.  The  Old  Testament  writers  look  back 
with  awe  and  exultation  to  the  days  of  the  nation's 
birth,  signalized  as  it  was  by  a  mighty  display  of 
supernatural  force;  but  the  occasion  of  Jehovah's 
intervention  made  it  manifest  that  His  power  was 
guided  by  love  and  gracious  willingness  to  redeem. 
The  God  who  had  espoused  the  cause  of  an  enslaved 
and  oppressed  people  must  needs  be  a  Being  full 
of  pity  and  rich  in  mercies,  faithful  to  His  promises 
and  righteous  in  His  judgments2.  The  exodus  was 
indeed  a  supreme  display  of  character,  and  we  are 
even  justified  in  holding  with  Ewald  that  the  very 
keynote  of  the  Pentateuch  is  the  conception  of 
Jehovah  as  a  merciful  deliverer.  That  idea,  as  he 
points  out,  is  embodied  in  the  sanctions  affixed  to 
the  first  five  commandments  of  the  Decalogue.  In 
each  case  the  divine  precept  is  based  on  some  feature 
in  the  beneficent  character  of  God.  Thus  in  the 
first  word  Jehovah  proclaims  Himself  as  the  Saviour 
who  has  ransomed  Israel  from  the  house  of  bondage ; 
in  the  second  as  a  jealous  God,  good  to  them  that 
love,  severe  to  them  that  hate  Him,  yet  even  in 
sternness  remembering  His  mercy;  in  the  third  as 
a  glorious  God,  who  will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty 
or  give  His  glory  to  another;  in  the  fourth  as  a  God 
who  has  thoughts  of  peace  and  refreshment  for  His 
'  desert-wearied '  people  and  leads  them  to  blessedness 
and  rest ;  in  the  fifth  as  a  God  who  gives  bounteously 
to  the  poor,  and  prepares  for  them  a  land  to  dwell 

1  Exod.  vi.  I.  2  Exod.  iii.  7,  8 ;  vi.  5,  8. 


76  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS  OF  [LECT. 

in.  Israel's  obligation  to  obedience  is  rooted  in 
Jehovah's  character.  His  redemptive  acts  on  behalf 
of  His  elect  people  stand  in  the  forefront  of  the  moral 
law,  and  supply  the  motive  of  love  and  service. 

Grace  is,  in  fact,  a  prominent  element  in  the  divine 
self-revelation  from  the  first  point  in  Israel's  history 
to  the  last.  And,  in  accordance  with  the  whole  course 
of  man's  religious  history,  a  stage  of  external  mani- 
festation precedes  that  of  inward  realization.  Grace 
is  first  revealed  in  the  sphere  of  history  and  provi- 
dence,—God  working  for  the  redemption  of  a  down- 
trodden people ;  *  doing  for  Israel  what  she  could 
not  do  for  herself,  in  love  and  pity  redeeming  a 
helpless  enslaved  race  from  a  state  of  bondage,'  and 
throughout  its  history  ever  renewing  the  manifesta- 
tion of  his  goodness.  In  all  their  affliction  he  was 
afflicted,  and  the  angel  of  his  presence  saved  them; 
in  his  love  and  in  his  pity  he  redeemed  them ;  and  he 
bare  them,  and  carried  them  all  the  days  of  old 1. 

At  a  later  period,  grace  came  to  be  regarded  by  the 
prophets  as  an  internal  operation  of  divine  love, 
'  a  beneficent  power  working  within  men,  enabling 
them  to  fulfil  the  divine  will  V  a  power  subduing  sin, 
cleansing  the  conscience,  and  renewing  the  heart. 
So  the  historical  and  external  enfranchisement  was 
acknowledged  to  be  the  type  of  a  spiritual  deliverance  ; 
and  as  religious  affections  became  more  perfectly 
developed,  devout  Israelites  became  ever  more  alive 
to  the  true  significance  of  Jehovah's  mighty  acts  on 
behalf  of  their  fathers  in  the  time  of  old ;  witness 
the  tenderness  of  such  a  passage  as  the  following 
extract  from  the  fourth  book  of  Esdras.  Thus  saith 
the  Almighty  Lord,  Have  I  not  prayed  you  as  a  father 
his  sons,  as  a  mother  her  daughters^  and  a  nurse  her 

1  Isa.  Ixiii.  9. 

2  Bruce,  Apologetics,  p.  249.     Riehm,  ^477.  Theologie,  p.  35,  remarks 
that  in  the  Old  Testament  as  in  the  New  we  have  a  redemptive  act  of 
God :     '  Im  alten   Bunde  eine    Erlosung   des  Volkes   von   ausserlicher 
Knechtschaft,  im   neuen  eine  Erlosung  aller  einzelnen  von  geistlicher 
Knechtschaft.' 


n]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  77 

young  babes,  that  ye  would  be  my  people,  and  I  should  be 
your  God;  that  ye  would  be  my  children,  and  I  should 
be  your  father  ?  I  gathered  you  together,  as  a  hen 
gathereth  her  chickens  iinder  her  wings1.  Indeed  the 
most  essential  characteristic  of  Old  Testament  religion 
is  its  unshaken  conviction,  that  the  Holy  God  who 
manifested  Himself  to  His  chosen  people  was  above 
all  else  a  God  of  grace  :  Israel's  election,  and  redemp- 
tion, and  its  preservation  throughout  the  perilous 
vicissitudes  of  its  chequered  history,  were  standing 
proofs  that  the  most  fundamental  and  enduring  element 
in  the  divine  Being  is  Love  2. 

It  will  be  our  business  in  a  later  lecture  to  investigate 
more  particularly  the  main  points  of  the  Old  Testament 
revelation  of  God.  Meanwhile,  let  it  suffice  to  remark 
that  we  only  do  justice  to  the  labours  of  criticism 
when  we  acknowledge  the  fact  of  a  long  and  slow 
development  in  Israel's  conception  of  deity.  Some 
have  supposed  that  the  knowledge  of  God  was 
originally  simple  and  pure,  and  that  the  religion  of 
Israel  was  merely  the  re-establishment  of  a  primitive 
monotheism.  But,  in  spite  of  the  admitted  possibility 
of  degradation  as  a  factor  in  religious  history,  it  must 
be  frankly  owned  that  there  is  a  lack  of  evidence 
for  the  existence  of  an  original  monotheistic  religion 
among  the  Semites,  and  indeed  the  Old  Testament 
itself  contains  indications  that  even  in  Abraham's 
family  there  was  a  survival  of  idolatrous  practices 
and  beliefs  3. 

The  history  of  Israel  seems,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
to  show  us  clearly  marked  stages  in  the  development 
of  the  idea  of  God,  the  prophets  from  Moses  onwards 
being  the  leaders  of  religious  thought.  In  the  earliest 
period,  Jehovah  is  popularly  conceived  as  a  national 
God,  opposed  to  the  gods  of  surrounding  nations, 
having  the  same  attributes  as  they,  chiefly  wrathful- 

1  4  Esdras  i.  28  f.     The  date  of  this  book  is  thought  to  be  circ.  90,  A.D. 

2  Cp.  Riehm,  ATI.  Theologie,  §  n,  pp.  62,  63. 

3  Cp.  Gen.  xxxv.  2 ;  Joshua  xxiv.  2.     Cp.  Riehm,  op.  cit.  pp.  31,  32. 


78  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS  OF  [LECT. 

ness  and  jealousy,  worshipped  with  similar  rites  and 
making  the  same  demands.  But,  as  we  have  seen, 
higher  and  purer  ideas  were  impressed  by  the  marvels 
of  the  exodus  on  at  least  the  more  receptive  minds. 
Step  by  step  the  evolution  of  thought  proceeds. 
The  narrative  of  Israel's  conflicts  is  the  story  of  the 
wars  of  Jehovah^-,  of  a  struggle  between  Israel's 
national  God  and  the  deities  of  alien  tribes.  The 
work  of  the  prophets  was  to  moralize  the  conception 
of  Jehovah  ;  to  show  that  His  essential  attributes  were 
ethical,  His  necessary  requirement  of  man,  holiness. 
Finally,  in  the  great  overthrow  of  the  nation  the 
national  conscience  was  led  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
recognize  that  which  the  loftier  spirits  had  already 
discerned  ages  before ;  it  acknowledged  the  triumph 
of  the  divine  righteousness  ;  it  rose  to  the  conception 
of  a  God  one,  holy,  and  gracious  2. 

With  one  general  remark  we  leave  the  subject 
of  progressive  Revelation.  It  has  been  already 
pointed  out  that  belief  and  unbelief  are  confronted 
by  the  same  facts ;  they  are  distinguished  by  the 
divergent  account  which  each  gives  of  the  facts.  The 
process  of  evolution  in  Israel's  faith  lies  on  the  very 
surface  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  is  verified  by  all 
that  we  know  of  God's  dealings  in  every  department 
of  His  action.  We  recognize  then  the  progressive 
development  of  Old  Testament  religion :  but  we  look 
upon  it  not  as  'a  spontaneous  upward  movement  of 
the  human  mind,  whereby  it  passes  from  crude  errors 
to  purer  forms  of  thought,  but  as  a  progressive  self- 
unveiling  of  Deity  in  the  sphere  of  revelation,  as 
a  divine  work  of  education,  dealing  with  stubborn  and 

1  Num.  xxi.  14. 

2  Cp.  Darmesteter,  op.  cit.  pp.  165  f.     It  is  very  important  to  bear  in 
mind  the  contrast  between  the  mass  of  the  Hebrew  people  and  the  inner 
circle  which  responded  to  the  teaching  of  prophetic  leaders.     There  is 
every  ground  for  asserting  with  Riehm,  op.  cit.  p.  1 1  :    '  Die  Masse  des 
Volkes,  insbesondere   auch  die  Priesterschaft,  bjieb  immer  im  Grossen 
und  Ganzen  auf  jener  ersten  Stufe  der  volkstiimlichen  Ausgestaltung  der 
alttestamentlichen,  Religion  stehen,  wahrend  die  hohere  Entwicklungs- 
gestalt  des  Prophetismus  sich  auf  einen  engeren  Kreis  beschrankte.' 


n]  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  79 

intractable  material  V  The  contrast  between  these 
two  views  is  profound,  and  we  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude 
to  the  historical  criticism  which  has  enlarged  our  sense 
of  the  continuity  observable  in  divine  revelation.  We 
have  learned  to  apprehend  more  clearly  what  has  been 
an  axiom  of  Christian  thought  since  the  principle  was 
vindicated  by  Irenaeus  in  opposition  to  the  Gnostics2. 
*  It  is  the  same  God,'  says  a  recent  writer,  '  who  made 
Himself  known  to  Abraham,  Moses,  Elijah,  and  Isaiah, 
who  revealed  Himself  as  our  Father  in  the  person  of 
Jesus  Christ.  He  is  the  same  with  the  fathers  as  with 
the  children  :  but  He  condescends  lovingly  to  submit 
Himself  to  those  limitations  of  man's  spiritual  life 
which  He  Himself  ordained.  He  reveals  Himself 
to  children,  according  to  their  capacity,  to  men  in 
such  wise  as  is  suitable  to  men ;  He  does  not  at  one 
sweep  get  rid  of  all  obscurities  and  all  obstacles,  but 
overcomes  them  gently  and  patiently  by  acting  on 
them  from  within ;  He  does  not  annihilate  with  one 
magic  stroke  all  alien  elements,  which  His  revelation 
finds  already  present  in  the  minds  of  its  recipients, 
but  allows  the  measure  of  divine  knowledge  and 
experience  which  can  be  imparted  to  work  as  a  ferment 
which  in  time  will  sever  the  defective  elements  from 
the  good  V 

III.  A  third  point  of  view  from  which  the  Old 
Testament  may  be  studied  will  have  to  be  considered. 
It  traces  the  history,  and  states  the  conditions,  of  a 
covenantal  relationship  between  God  and  man ;  of 
a  life  of  friendship  or  communion  which  grows  out 
of  the  original  relation  in  which  the  Creator  stands 
to  the  creature.  This  life  of  love  begins  historically 
with  God's  election  of  the  patriarch  Abraham  :  and 
the  deliverance  of  his  descendants  from  servitude 
became  the  basis  of  a  'covenant'  between  Jehovah 
and  those  whom  He  took  by  the  hand  to  lead  them 

1  Oettli,  op.  cit.  p.  19. 

2  Cp.  Iren.  Haer.  iii.  3.  3,  £c. ;  also  Novat.  de  Trin.  viii. 

3  Oettli,  op.  cit.  p.  20. 


8o  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS   OF  [LECT. 

out  of  the  land  of  Egypt^-.  For  the  present  it  is 
desirable  to  waive  the  question  when  the  unique 
relationship  of  God  to  His  ransomed  people  first  came 
to  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  a  covenant,  a  question 
of  which  Wellhausen  seems  to  dispose  somewhat  too 
confidently.  At  this  point  it  will  suffice  to  touch  upon 
some  leading  features  of  the  settlement  which  was 
traced  back  by  Hebrew  faith  to  the  time  of  the 
exodus. 

First,  it  is  noticeable  that  the  *  covenant '  is  rather 
a  matter  of  divine  institution  or  disposition  than  a 
contract  between  two  equal  parties 2.  The  initiation 
is  taken  by  Jehovah,  and  is  purely  an  act  of  grace. 
He  who  establishes  a  bond  of  union  between  Him- 
self and  man  also  fixes  the  necessary  conditions 
of  it.  This  is  tantamount  to  saying  that  behind 
the  covenant  lies  Israel's  election,  a  thought  which 
is  specially  characteristic  of  the  book  of  Deu- 
teronomy 3.  Again,  we  find  that  the  covenant  is 
formally  ratified  by  sacrifice,  in  accordance  with  the 
principle  universally  recognized — SiaOrJKrj  enl  i/e/cpoty 
J3e/3aia*.  The  death  of  a  sacrificial  victim  on  the 
one  hand  secured  the  immutability  of  the  terms  laid 
down  in  the  covenant,  and  on  the  other  symbolized 
the  surrender  of  man's  natural  life,  which  must  be 
freely  yielded  up  if  it  is  to  be  brought  into  contact 
with  the  divine  nature.  Only  by  accepting  death  can 
human  nature  enter  upon  a  higher  sphere  of  active 
serviceableness  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  Further, 
the  sprinkling  of  the  victim's  blood  upon  the  people 
was  an  emblem  of  their  consecration  to  the  life  of 
covenant-fellowship.  It  was  a  kind  of  baptism  by 
which  Israel  was  translated  into  a  spiritual  kingdom, 
and  endued  with  the  sanctity  of  the  divine  life.  It 
was  a  seal  of  that  act,  or  series  of  acts,  by  which 

1  Jer.  xxxi.  32.     Cp.  Heb.  viii.  9. 

2  Aiadr,Krj   rather  than  avvd^KTj.     Cp.  Westcott,  Ep.  to  the  Hebrews, 

pp.  222,  299. 

3  Deut.  vii.  7  ;  viii.  18.  *  Heb.  ix.  17. 


ii]  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  81 

Jehovah  had  appropriated  the  nation  to  Himself  and 
made  it  His  own 1.  Finally — and  this  is  the  main  point 
— the  covenant  necessarily  involved  a  divine  require- 
ment. Accordingly,  in  Exod.  xxiv.  the  newly-formed 
nation  binds  itself  to  Jehovah's  service,  All  that  the 
Lord  hath  said  will  we  do,  and  be  obedient 2. 

Thus  at  the  very  outset  of  its  national  career  Israel 
is  pledged  to  moral  obedience,  and  it  is  forewarned 
that  a  special  character  is  the  condition  of  union  with 
the  holy  God  3.  Ye  shall  be  a  holy  nation  —  such  is 
the  divine  command  ;  Ye  shall  be  holy,  for  I  am 
holy ; — words  which  point  to  the  future  rather  than 
the  present ;  to  a  predestined  purpose  rather  than  an 
accomplished  fact.  '  From  the  first  the  people  were 
told  of  their  calling  .  .  .  what  they  existed  for,  what 
their  existence  pointed  to4/  and  the  position  of  the 
Decalogue,  both  in  Exodus  and  in  Deuteronomy,  is 
a  significant  token  of  the  principle  so  emphatically 
insisted  on  by  the  prophets  that  the  moral  law  is  the 
essential  bond  of  union  between  God  and  man,  and 
that  ethical  obligations  transcend  those  of  the  cere- 
monial and  ritual  law.  So  Jeremiah  insists  6 :  /  spake 
not  ^mto  your  fathers,  nor  commanded  them  in  the  day 
that  I  brought  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  con- 
cerning burnt  offerings  or  sacrifices;  but  this  thing 
commanded  I  them,  saying,  Obey  my  voice,  and  I  will 
be  your  God,  and  ye  shall  be  my  people ;  and  walk  ye 
in  all  the  ways  that  I  have  commanded  you,  that  it 
may  be  well  unto  you.  It  is,  as  Irenaeus  points  out, 
the  Decalogue  which  fixes  the  eternal  conditions  of 
fellowship  between  God  and  man ;  and  consequently 
its  precepts  are  extended  and  enlarged,  rather  than 
dissolved,  by  the  personal  advent  of  the  Redeemer6. 

1  Cp.  Ezek.  xvi.  8  :  '  Then  becamest  thou  mine.'     See  Oehler,  Theol.  of 
the  O.  T.  §  121. 

2  Exod.  xxiv.  3,  7. 

3  This  is  already  implied  in  Gen.  xviii.  19.    Cp.  Exod.  xix.  6 ;  Lev.  xi.  45, 
xix.  2. 

4  R.  W.  Church,  Discipline  of  the  Christian  Character,  p.  30. 

5  Jer.  vii.  22,  23.    These  verses  have  naturally  played  an  important  part 
in  the  history  of  criticism.  6  Iren.  Haer.  iv.  16.  4. 

G 


82  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS  OF  [LECT. 

The  thought,  then,  of  a  covenant  uniting  man  to  his 
Creator  may  be  said  to  pervade  the  Old  Testament, 
and  it  cannot  be  adequately  accounted  for  apart  from 
some  actual  divine  movement  towards  man.  For  the 
express  object  and  end  contemplated  in  the  covenant, 
in  each  stage  of  its  history,  and  on  each  occasion  of  its 
renewal,  is  ever  the  same,  and  is  achieved  by  the  same 
method  of  divine  action.  By  a  process  of  limitation, 
by  a  severance  at  once  physical  and  moral,  the  God  of 
Israel  sets  apart  a  peculiar  people  to  be  the  instrument 
of  His  purpose  and  the  organ  of  His  praise1.  But 
though  the  initiative  belongs  to  the  God  of  grace,  the 
very  institution  of  a  covenant-relationship  implies  the 
recognition  of  the  freedom  and  dignity  that  belongs  to 
human  nature.  '  Man  in  relation  to  God,'  observes 
Prof.  Schultz,  '  is  not  a  being  without  rights,  or  one  to 
be  treated  in  an  arbitrary  way  or  merely  with  lenity. 
He  stands  to  God  in  a  relation  of  personal  and  moral 
fellowship  ~!  Thus,  as  a  being  created  in  the  image 
of  God,  man  is  not  only  called  to  correspond  to  the 
moral  law ;  he  on  his  side  may  claim  to  share  in 
a  measure  the  thoughts  and  purposes  of  God.  The 
notion  of  a  covenant  involves  a  certain  relationship  of 
equality,  and  an  element  of  mutual  obligation.  In  the 
Old  Testament  are  laid  the  foundations  of  a  spiritual 
connexion  between  God  and  His  creatures  which  was 
destined  to  be  perfected  in  the  mystery  of  the  indwell- 
ing Spirit.  Man  already  becomes  in  a  sense  an  heir 
cf  God  and  a  joint-heir  with  His  Christ 3. 

IV.  Yet  another  aspect  of  the  Old  Testament  will 
engage  our  attention.  It  is  a  record  which  unfolds  in 
successive  stages  the  growth  of  a  unique  anticipation 
or  hope  concerning  the  future,  not  of  the  elect  race 
only,  but  of  mankind.  The  Israel  of  the  Spirit  was 
ever  waiting,  throughout  the  long  ages  of  the  national 
history,  for  the  manifestation  of  the  kingdom  of  God  4. 
In  the  days  that  immediately  preceded  the  first  Advent 

1  Cp.  Riehm,  op.  tit.  p.  35.  2  O.  T.  Theology,  ii.  5. 

3  Rom.  viii.  17.  *  Cp.  St.  Luke  xxiii.  51. 


ii]  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  83 

this  was  the  hope  to  which  Israel  passionately  clung— 
it  was  indeed  the  only  hope  that  remained.     And  the 
history  of  Israel  is  unlike  that  of  any  other  nation  in 
that  the  chosen  people  was  divinely  destined  to  fulfil 
a  peculiar  mission  to  the  world.     The  sense  of  mission 
was  at  first,  no  doubt,  dim   and  obscure,  but  in  the 
prophets    it  became   powerfully  developed,  and  in   it 
originated  the  hopes  that  we  call  '  Messianic.'     If  we 
wished  in  a  single  phrase  to  describe  the  ideal  destiny 
of  Israel,  we  might  select  the  term,  Servant  of  Jehovah^, 
since  the  mission  of  the  chosen  people  was,  in  fact,  to 
proclaim  to  the  nations  in  Jehovah's  name  the  kingdom 
of  God.     In  the  momentous  events   of  the  exodus, 
as  they  were  interpreted  by  the  piety  of  later  ages,  the 
foundations  of  a  visible  kingdom  of  God  among  men 
were  laid.     Ye  have  seen  what  I  did  imtp  the  Egyptians, 
and  how  I  bare  yon  on  eagles  wings,  and  brought  you 
unto  myself.     Now  therefore,  if  ye  will  obey  my  voice 
indeed,  and  keep  my  covenant,  then  ye  shall  be  a  peculiar 
treasure  unto  me  above  all  people:  for  all  the  earth  is 
mine:  and  ye  shall  be  unto  m?  a  kingdom  of  priests,  and 
an  holy  nation 2,  that  is,  a  people  bearing  the  marks  of 
special   consecration   to   Jehovah,  and  entrusted   with 
a  spiritual  mission,  extending  to  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth.     It  is  highly  doubtful   whether  the    nation   at 
the  time  of  its  foundation  was  conscious  of  its  vocation. 
There  can  be  no  question,  however,   that  in  looking 
back   on    its   wonderful    past,   the    spiritual   Israel    of 
a  later  period  rightly  interpreted  the  significance  of  its 
redemption  from  Egyptian  servitude.     Through  painful 
discipline  a  remnant  at  least  of  the  nation  became  con- 
scious  that    it   w<as  called   to  be  a  vehicle    of  divine 
knowledge  and  salvation  to  the  world ;    it  was  com- 

1  Cp.  Edersheim,  Warburton  Lectures,  p.  45  ;  and  Wellhausen,  Pro- 
legomena, p.  400.     Observe  the  title  'Servant  of  Jehovah'  implies  a  call 
to  special  service  or  obedience.     It  is  used  of  Abraham  (Gen.  xxvi.  24), 
Caleb  (Num.  xiv.  24),  Moses  (Deut.  xxxiv.  5,  &c.),  Joshua  (Joshua xxiv.  29), 
David  (2  Sam.  vii.  5,  &c.),  Job  (i.  8),  Isaiah  (xx.  3,  &c.).     The  phrase,  in  its 
collective  sense  applied  to  Israel,  is  first  used  by  Jeremiah  (e.  g.  xxx.  10) 
and  Ezekiel  (e.g.  xxviii.  25),  and  is  common  in  Deutero-Isaiah. 

2  Exod.  xix.  4-6. 

G   2 


84  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS  OF  [LECT. 

missioned  to  proclaim  the  sovereignty  of  God.  Thy 
saints  give  thanks  unto  thee,  sings  a  psalmist,  they  show 
the  glory  of  thy  kingdom  and  talk  of  thy  power ;  that 
thy  power,  thy  glory,  and  mightiness  of  thy  kingdom 
might  be  known  imto  men^.  Hence  the  keynote  of 
Moses'  song  is  the  reign  of  God  on  earth  :  Jehovah 
shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever  2 ;  and  the  thought  thus 
expressed  becomes  the  one  '  pervading  and  impelling 
idea  of  the  Old  Testament  V 

Now  of  this  kingdom  of  God  the  polity  of  ancient 
Israel  was  a  kind  of  external  and  visible  embodiment. 
Although  the  religion  of  the  Old  Testament  from  the 
first  contained  the  potency  of  becoming  a  world- 
religion,  yet  in  its  beginnings  it  bears  all  the  marks 
of  a  purely  national  or  tribal  religion.  The  kingdom 
of  God  is  seemingly  confined  within  the  limits  of  an 
organized  nationality ;  fellowship  with  God  means  par- 
ticipation in  the  chosen  people 4.  The  divine  sove- 
reignty is  not  conceived  as  a  relation  in  which  Jehovah 
stands  to  the  whole  created  universe  ;  it  is  rather  the 
dominion  which  He  exercises  over  the  special  people 
of  His  choice.  Hence  Israel's  polity  might  be  called  a 
'  Theocracy/  a  term  apparently  invented  by  Josephus 
to  denote  the  immediate,  personal  sovereignty  of 
Jehovah  in  Israel 5.  When  the  primitive  covenant 
between  Jehovah  and  the  people  was  ratified,  God 
became  King  in  Jeshurun*,  the  fountain-head  of  all 
authority  and  governance,  all  civil  and  religious  enact- 
ments. He  became  the  sovereign,  the  law-giver,  the 
judge,  the  champion,  the  protector  of  His  people. 

1  Ps.  cxlv.  10-12.  2  Exod.  xv.  1 8. 

3  Keim  ap.  Edersheim,  op.  cit.  p.  48. 

4  Cp.  Riehm,  op.  cit.  pp.  27,  28. 

5  Cp.  Oehler,  Theol.  of  the  O.  T.  §  91. 

6  See  Josephus,  c.  Apion.  ii.  16  (quoted  by  Oehler,  /.  c.}.     Robertson 
Smith,  The  Prophets  of '  Israel  (ed.  i),  p.  52,  remarks  that  'The  word 
theocracy  expresses  precisely  that  feature  in  the  religion  of  Israel  which  it 
had  in  common  with  the  faiths  of  the  surrounding  nations/  but  Stanton, 
The  Jewish  and  the  Christian  Messiah,  p.  loo  note,  points  out  that  the 
word  '  does  describe  very  happily  what  became  distinctive  of  Israel.  .  .  . 
The  idea  was  preserved  among  them  when  other  nations  had  lost  it'  in 
a  very  elevated  form. 


n]  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  85 

He  went  before  them  to  battle  as  their  leader ;  their 
triumphs  were  victories  won  by  If  is  holy  arm x. 

It  would  be  a  mistake  however  to  suppose  that  the 
idea  of  a  theocracy  was  completely  realized  in  the  primi- 
tive Mosaic  institutions.  We  must  remember  that  they 
are  described  to  us  by  writers  who  are  dominated  by 
the  theocratic  idea,  and  whose  conceptions  of  ancient 
Hebrew  history  are  coloured  by  the  facts  and  ideals 
of  their  own  time.  Nevertheless,  there  is  no  reason 
to  doubt  that  Moses  planted  a  seed  which  the  lapse 
of  time  was  destined  to  bring  to  maturity.  The 
position  of  utter  dependence  on  their  God  and  His 
appointed  mediator  in  which  the  newly  enfranchised 
Hebrews  found  themselves  contained  the  essential 
germ  of  theocratic  ideas.  Researches  into  the  primi- 
tive religion  of  the  Semites  give  support  to  this 
view.  Wellhausen  maintains  that  in  ancient  Israel 
the  theocracy  never  existed  in  fact  as  a  form  of  con- 
stitution ;  it  only  came  into  existence  in  the  strict 
sense  after  the  exile,  and  was  transported  in  an 
idealized  form  to  early  times.  But  this  statement 
must  be  qualified  by  the  consideration  that  among  the 
Hebrews,  as  among  other  Semitic  tribes,  it  would  be 
obvious  and  natural  to  address  the  tribal  god  as 
king,  and  the  belief  in  such  a  sovereignty  would  carry 
with  it  the  conviction  that  the  supreme  guidance  of 
the  state  was  actually  in  the  hands  of  the  deity,  and 
that  the  whole  sphere  of  ordinary  social  and  civil  life 
was  subject  to  His  control  and  direction2.  Under 
the  monarchy  the  theocratic  idea  was  gradually 
recognized,  developed,  and  expanded.  The  reign  of 
David  and  his  successors  had  very  far-reaching  con- 
sequences in  this  connexion.  The  monarchy  *  drew 
the  life  of  the  people  together  at  a  centre,  and  gave  it 
an  aim  ' ;  it  developed  a  '  national  self-consciousness  ' ; 
while  political  developments  necessarily  affected  the 

1  Ps.  xcviii.  2. 

2  Wellhausen,  Prolegomena,  c.  vii.  p.  256,  and  c.  xi.  p.  411  [Eng.  Tr.]. 
Cp.  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  31. 


86  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS  OF  [LECT. 

growth  of  religious  ideas.  The  kingship  of  Jehovah 
was,  as  it  were,  visibly  realized  under  the  monarch  ; 
the  reigning  king  of  David's  line  was  reverenced  as 
Jehovah's  representative,  reigning  by  His  grace  and 
in  His  name;  and  to  the  prophets  of  the  eighth 
century  the  kingdom  of  Jehovah  became  practically 
identical  with  the  kingdom  of  David.  Isaiah,  observes 
Wellhausen,  '  is  unconscious  of  any  difference  between 
human  and  divine  law:  law  in  itself,  jurist's  law  in  the 
proper  juristic  sense  of  the  word,  is  divine,  and  has 
behind  it  the  authority  of  the  Holy  One  of  Israel  .  .  . 
Jehovah  is  a  true  and  perfect  king,  hence  justice  is 
His  principal  attribute  and  His  chief  demand  V  On 
the  whole,  it  is  probable  that  the  kingship  of  Jehovah 
was  a  conception  belonging  indeed  to  the  Mosaic  age, 
but  under  the  monarchy  consciously  acknowledged  and 
taken  as  the  foundation  of  ideal  hopes  for  the  future. 
The  conquests  of  David  and  his  successors  over  the 
tribes  bordering  on  Palestine  appeared  to  the  prophetic 
eye  to  signalize  a  gradual  extension  of  the  victorious 
sway  of  Jehovah.  Kingship  appears  to  have  invariably 
suggested  to  a  Hebrew  mind  the  notion  of  conquest 
over  foes,  and  extension  by  victorious  conflict  of  a 
rightful  dominion.  Thus  the  prophetic  picture  of  the 
Messiah  represents  him  as  an  ideal  ruler,  filled  with 
the  spirit  of  Jehovah,  and  adorned  with  all  the  virtues 
of  a  just  and  powerful  prince. 

As  time  went  on,  however,  the  ideas  of  the  prophets 
were  at  once  expanded  and  spiritualized 2.  They 
were  inspired  to  proclaim  two  truths  respecting 
the  kingdom  of  God  which  the  mass  of  the  nation 
had  peculiar  difficulty  in  apprehending:  viz.  its  uni- 
versality— the  kingdom  was  to  embrace  mankind  ;  and 
its  spirituality — it  was  to  be  a  kingdom  of  holiness. 
Each  of  these  ideas  was  suggested  by  the  events, 
or  by  the  needs  of  the  present.  The  thought  of 
universal  dominion  resulted  in  part  from  the  disasters 

1  Wellhausen,  Prolegomena,  c.  xi.  pp.  413-415. 

2  See  Kuenen,  Hibbert  Lectures,  pp.  126  foil. 


n]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  87 

which  overtook  Israel  on  the  broad  stage  of  secular 
history.  The  outcome  of  contact  or  collision  with 
the  great  world-powers  of  Egypt,  Asshur,  and  Babylon, 
was  the  conception  of  a  world-wide  empire  of  Jehovah, 
embracing  the  very  nations  which  threatened  or 
oppressed  the  defenceless  kingdom  of  God.  The 
temptation  of  the  average  Israelite  was  to  mistake 
a  portion  of  the  divine  kingdom  for  the  whole ;  but 
prophecy  rose  to  the  sublime  thought  of  a  world- 
wide kingdom  of  God,  into  which  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth  should  flow  and  bring  their  glory,  in 
which  a  Prince,  enthroned  as  Jehovah's  representa- 
tive and  vicegerent,  should  reign  in  peace  and 
righteousness  over  a  universe  redeemed  from  all 
elements  of  moral  or  physical  evil.  Certainly  the 
constitution  of  the  visible  theocracy,  as  we  find  it 
fully  developed  in  Judaism  after  the  exile,  seems  at 
first  sight  to  mark  a  retrogression  from  the  ideals 
of  Messianic  prophecy ;  but  here  also  wisdom  is 
justified  of  her  children  ;  and  we  can  see  now  that  the 
legal  stage  of  Israel's  development  was  the  means  of 
keeping  alive  and  deepening  those  great  spiritual  ideas 
which  alone  could  give  to  the  religion  of  the  Old 
Testament  a  true  universality. 

Again,  the  prophets  proclaimed  the  spiritual  character 
and  purpose  of  Jehovah's  kingdom.  It  was  to  be  a 
kingdom  of  righteousness.  The  obstinate  and  cherished 
belief  of  ordinary  Israelites  was  that  the  divine  favour 
had  been  pledged  to  them  unconditionally,  and  that 
Jehovah  would  under  any  circumstances  intervene  on 
His  people's  behalf;  it  was  thought  to  be  self-evident 
that  any  difficult  or  dangerous  crisis  would  certainly 
end  in  Israel's  favour.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  the 
work  of  the  prophets  to  combat  this  delusion.  In 
season  and  out  of  season  they  were  the  preachers  of 
God's  moral  requirement.  They  insisted  that  the  holy 
God  could  be  Israel's  God  only  in  so  far  as  the  laws 
of  social  righteousness  were  recognized  and  fulfilled. 
They  refused,  as  Wellhausen  finely  expresses  it,  '  to 


88  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS  OF  [LECT. 

allow  the  conception  of  Jehovah  to  be  involved  in 
the  ruin  of  the  kingdom.  They  saved  faith  by 
destroying  illusion1.'  Their  function,  in  a  word,  was  to 
vindicate  the  spirituality  of  God's  kingdom;  to  pro- 
claim the  indefeasible  conditions  of  the  divine  covenant. 
Moreover,  they  perceived  that  a  spiritual  kingdom 
must  necessarily  outgrow  nationalistic  limitations  :  its 
dominant  tendency  and  its  irresistible  impulse  must  be 
to  embrace  universal  humanity. 

The  kingdom  of  God,  then,  began  with  the  founding 
of  the  Mosaic  state.  Israel  was  welded  into  a  compact 
community  by  uniform  laws,  customs,  and  ordinances 
of  worship.  It  became  a  nation  not  by  growth  from 
within  but  by  a  kind  of  constraint  from  without.  It 
was  bound  together  by  the  truth  which  it  cherished. 
Thus  organized,  the  nation  was  in  due  time  launched 
into  a  tumultuous  sea  of  heathen  peoples — as  the  object 
of  a  '  relative,  temporary,  economical  preference  V  in 
order  to  become  the  vehicle  of  revelation  to  the  whole 
earth.  Isolated  Israel  certainly  was :  lo,  the  people 
shall  dwell  alone,  and  shall  not  be  reckoned  among  the 
nations  3,  but  only  with  a  view  to  the  ultimate  accom- 
plishment of  a  definite  purpose  of  grace  towards  the 
world.  The  Gentiles  are  accordingly  summoned  by 
Jehovah  to  rejoice  with  his  people*,  while  Israel,  the 
covenant  people,  with  its  spiritual  mission  to  the  world, 
is  hailed  as  the  firstborn,  the  light  of  the  Gentiles, 
the  head  of  the  heathen 5.  Such  was  Israel's  ideal 
calling,  and  all  the  prophecies  that  relate  to  the  con- 
version of  the  world  through  Jacob  or  the  '  Servant  of 
Jehovah  '  are  primarily  applicable  to  the  ideal  Israel. 
We  know  how  these  great  and  precious  promises 
became  gradually  narrowed  to  a  remnant  and  only 
received  final  fulfilment  in  the  representative  personality 
of  one,  who  was  himself  the  true  Israel,  the  true  Prince 

1  Sketch  of  the  History  of  Israel  and  Judah,  p.  89. 

2  Bruce,  Chief  End  of  Revelation,  p.  116. 

3  Num.  xxiii.  9. 

4  D_eut.  xxxii.  43;  Rom.  xv.  10-12. 

6  Exod.  iv.  22  ;  Isa.  xlii.  6  ;  Ps.  xviii.  43. 


n]  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  89 

of  God.  But  what  was  fulfilled  in  Him  had  primary 
reference  to  the  people  of  whose  stock  He  willed  to  be 
born  ;  through  Him  the  Church  of  the  Old  Testament 
was  destined  to  fulfil  its  prophetic  and  priestly  calling ; 
in  Him  all  the  glories  and  sufferings  predicted  by 
prophecy  for  the  chosen  people  were  to  find  full 
accomplishment ;  and  thus  in  the  historical  fulfilment 
a  single  individual  embodied  and  represented  the  race 
from  which  He  sprang1. 

The  Messianic  hope  of  the  Old  Testament  will 
therefore  occupy  our  attention.  We  shall  attempt  to 
study  the  elements  which  history  contributed  to  it  and 
the  stages  of  its  progress ;  we  shall  also  have  to  notice 
the  limitations  of  prophetic  foresight,  and  the  strictly 
historical  conditions  of  prophetic  prediction.  But  the 
point  of  highest  interest  is  the  steady  growth  of  the 
universalist  idea  of  salvation ;  of  the  thought  that 
Israel's  God  is  the  God  of  all  the  earth,  that  in 
the  last  days  the  people  of  God  is  destined  to  be 
surrounded  by  a  world  of  converted  nations,  that  in 
Zion,  the  city  of  His  choice,  the  Lord  will  destroy  the 
face  of  the  covering  cast  over  ail  people,  and  the  vail  that 
is  spread  over  all  nations;  that  He  will  swallow  up  death 
in  victory,  and  wipe  away  tears  from  off  all  faces  2. 

V.  The  Old  Testament  is  to  be  studied,  in  the  last 
place,  as  witnessing  to  a  divine  purpose  for  the  indi- 
vidual soul.  It  continually  directs  attention  to  the 
importance  of  personality  in  the  development  of  the 
kingdom  of  God.  It  sets  before  us  at  each  stage 
of  a  progressive  movement  the  figures  of  men, 
sometimes  pliable  and  passionate,  sometimes  com- 
manding and  majestic,  on  whose  ready  will,  prompt 
obedience,  or  bold  ventures  of  faith,  nothing  less 
depended  than  the  cause  of  God  in  the  world.  The 
Old  Testament  is  indeed  from  one  point  of  view 
a  history  of  vocations,  either  accepted  by  faith  or 
neglected  by  indolence  ;  either  awakening  the  response 
of  human  will  or  forfeited  by  human  sin.  In  self- 

1  Riehm,  Messianic  Prophecy,  p.  218.  2  Isa.  xxv.  7,  8. 


90  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS   OF  [LECI. 

surrender  and  submission  to  the  call  of  God  the  soul 
of  man  became  conscious  of  itself  and  of  the  con- 
trarieties which  religion  alone  explains,  the  strange 
blending  in  human  nature  of  weakness  and  misery 
with  greatness  and  strength  l.  Again,  the  Old  Testa- 
ment repeatedly  illustrates  the  fact  that  man's  obedient 
response  to  vocation  is  followed  by  a  consciousness  of 
personal  inspiration  which  enhances  the  sense  of  indi- 
viduality :  the  soul  recognizes  the  illuminating  or 
strengthening  influence  of  a  power  higher  than  itself, 
educating  the  intellect,  expanding  the  heart,  and 
quickening  the  conscience ;  it  becomes  aware  of  a 
divine  operation  which  does  not  constrain  man  '  me- 
chanically to  receive  the  truth,  but  enables  him  to 
know  it ' ;  does  not  merely  reveal  to  him  what  God 
would  have  him  believe  and  practise,  but  raises  him 
into  intelligent  sympathy  with  His  mind  and  will2. 
The  sense  of  personal  union  with  Deity  however  did 
not  override  or  overpower  individuality,  but  rather 
developed  and  stimulated  it.  The  inspiration  of  pro- 
phets and  saints  was  no  mere  possession  of  the  soul 
by  a  divine  influence,  no  ecstatic  ebullition  of  irrepres- 
sible feeling,  but  a  power  which  added  dignity  to  its 
subject,  awakening  at  once  his  consciousness  of  divinely 
appointed  mission,  and  his  perception  of  the  heights 
to  which  human  frailty  might  be  exalted  by  divine 
grace.  '  It  belongs  to  the  notion  of  prophecy,  of  true 
revelation,'  says  Wellhausen  in  a  memorable  passage, 
'  that  Jehovah,  overlooking  all  the  media  of  ordinances 
and  institutions,  communicates  Himself  to  the  indivi- 
dual, the  called  one,  in  whom  that  mysterious  and 
irreducible  rapport  in  which  the  deity  stands  with  man 
clothes  itself  with  energy.  Apart  from  the  prophet,  in 
abstracto,  there  is  no  revelation ;  it  lives  in  his  divine- 
human  ego 3/ 

1  Cp.  Pascal,  Pense'es,  art.  iv. 

2  J.  Caird,  Philosophy  of  Religion,  ch.  iii.     Cp.  Meinhold,  Jesus  und  das 
A.  T.  p.  139  :  *  Es  findet  em  mit  dem  Steigen  der  geistigen  Entwickelung 
gleichlaufendes  Anwachsen   der  Aufnahmefahigkeit  fur  religiose  Dinge 
statt.'  3  Prolegomena^  p.  398. 


n]  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT 


9'1 


But  again  beyond  the  quickened  sense  of  personal 
dignity  and  worth  which  resulted  from  conscious 
inspiration,  the  preciousness  of  the  individual  soul 
seemed  to  follow  from  the  very  thought  of  a  God  who 
was  willing  to  communicate  Himself  to  His  creatures. 
The  goodness  of  God,  manifested  in  His  readiness  to 
bring  man  into  a  relationship  of  sacred  intimacy  with 
Himself,  formed  as  it  were  an  implicit  premise  whence 
the  hopeful  conclusion  might  be  drawn  that  a  creature 
so  favoured  was  not  destined  to  extinction,  but  rather 
to  a  life  of  fellowship  with  his  Maker,  not  to  be  inter- 
rupted even  by  death.  Thus  the  evolution  of  the 
sense  of  individuality  depended  upon  the  spiritual 
experience  of  elect  souls.  There  arrived  a  stage  in 
Israel's  religion  when  good  men  found  their  only  solace 
in  the  life  of  communion  with  God.  In  the  troublous 
and  dreary  period  of  Israel's  permanent  subjection  to 
a  foreign  yoke,  personal  religion  became  the  strength 
and  stay  of  the  devout.  To  the  psalmists,  for  example, 
the  thought  of  God  is  a  refuge  in  any  trouble ;  He 
alone  is  the  object  of  the  soul's  confident  trust,  its 
adoring  joy,  its  sacred  thirst,  its  supreme  exultation, 
its  limitless  love.  And  the  soul  which  was  capable  of 
such  yearnings  and  aspirations,  felt  itself  ennobled  by 
the  reflected  majesty  of  Him  to  whom  it  clung.  With 
strong  confidence  it  rested  in  the  assurance  that  what 
God  had  so  highly  favoured  and  blessed,  He  would 
not  despise.  Thou  wilt  not  leave  my  soul  in  hell — such 
was  the  cry  of  the  human  heart.  God  will  redeem  my 
soul  from  the  power  of  the  grave :  for  he  shall  receive 
me.  My  flesh  and  my  heart  faileth:  but  God  is  the 
strength  of  my  heart,  and  my  portion  for  ever1.  The 
man  whose  portion  is  this  life  clings  to  what  is  vain 
and  transitory  ;  and  he  passes  away  with  that  to  which 
he  clings.  But  the  soul  which  holds  to  God  discovers 
in  its  very  love  the  pledge  of  an  undying  life. 

The  hope  which  is  fulfilled  in  Christianity  is  thus 
foreshadowed  and  anticipated  in  the  Old  Testament : 

1  Pss.  xvi.  10,  xlix.  15,  Ixxiii.  26. 


92  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS  OF  [LECT. 

the  hope,  namely,  of  a  kingdom  of  God  which  is  also 
a  kingdom  of  personality ;  a  sphere  in  which,  with 
the  advancing  development  of  the  community,  the 
individual  also  arrives  at  the  plenitude  of  liberty, 
perfection,  and  blessedness  1. 

There  remains  yet  another  factor  which  tended  to 
develope  the  life  of  personal  religion.  Just  as  the 
dissolution  of  the  Greek  states  gave  a  certain  impulse 
to  the  spread  of  Stoicism  with  its  characteristic  doc- 
trine of  the  avrdpK€La  of  the  individual,  so  the  disasters 
which  darkened  the  later  stages  of  Judah's  history 
inevitably  suggested  some  fundamental  moral  pro- 
blems, to  the  solution  of  which  the  wisdom  of  the 
time  devoted  its  energies.  At  the  same  time  the 
pressure  of  national  calamity  roused  in  individual 
men  doubts  and  questionings  respecting  their  personal 
relation  to  the  God  of  their  fathers.  In  fact  in  the 
sacred  literature  of  the  Hebrews  we  have  an  example 
of  a  phenomenon  familiar  in  secular  history.  One  con- 
sequence of  political  disorganization  was  that  Hebrew 
sages  devoted  themselves  to  inquiries  concerning  the 
duties  of  life  and  the  conditions  of  personal  well-being, 
either  by  way  of  compensation  for  the  loss  of  a  sphere 
of  public  activity,  or  as  a  solace  amid  the  troubles  of 
a  declining  state.  The  prevalence  of  violent  social 
anomalies  and  contrasts,  combined  with  the  corruption 
and  decay  of  public  religion,  quickened  the  spirit  of 
inquiry  into  the  deeper  mysteries  of  the  divine  deal- 
ings with  mankind.  Such  fundamental  religious  ideas 
as  those  of  personal  responsibility,  of  the  need  of 
atonement  for  sin,  and  of  the  efficacy  of  repentance 
were  the  fruit  of  sorrowful  meditation  on  the  causes  of 
Israel's  national  ruin.  These  ideas  took  their  place 
as  permanent  elements  in  the  religious  character ;  they 
practically  marked  an  advanced  stage  in  the  growth  of 
the  human  mind.  Ancient  theories  of  human  suffering 
and  of  divine  retribution  upon  wrong-doing  had  be- 
come too  strait  to  satisfy  the  needs  of  an  enlarged 

1  Cp.  Martensen,  Christian  Ethics  (General],  §  63. 


n]  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  93 

experience.  They  failed  to  provide  a  resting-place 
for  thought,  or  an  adequate  explanation  of  indispu- 
table facts.  Man's  perplexities,  in  short,  drove  him  to 
find  refuge  in  the  inscrutable  power  and  changeless 
character  of  God.  Thus  the  Old  Testament  is  a 
history  of  the  education  of  faith  ;  it  ends  with 
a  presage  of  a  divine  self-manifestation  which  alone 
can  solve  the  riddle  of  the  universe  and  throw  light 

o 

on  the  destiny  of  man. 

We  have  now  reviewed  in  a  summary  fashion  the 
main  topics  which  will  be  severally  considered  in 
subsequent  lectures.  It  is  worth  while  to  observe,  in 
conclusion,  how  closely  the  general  arrangement  of  the 
Hebrew  Bible  appears  to  correspond  with  those  five 
aspects  of  Old  Testament  theology  which  have  been 
briefly  described. 

In  the  Pentateuch  and  the  historical  books,  the  two 
most  prominent  ideas  are  those  of  redemption  and 
revelation.  The  book  of  Exodus  contains  the  account 
of  a  redemptive  movement  on  God's  part  which  forms 
a  kind  of  creative  period  in  the  history  of  Israel  and  of 
mankind 1.  The  deliverance  of  the  chosen  people  laid 
the  foundation  of  that  view  of  history  which  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  Bible :  it  gave  birth  to  the  conviction 
that  God  is  in  very  truth  a  living  God ;  that  His  hand 
is  at  work  in  the  universe,  controlling  the  destinies  of 
nations  and  using  the  faculties  of  individual  men  ;  that 
He  manifests  Himself  in  the  world  in  order  to  further 
moral  purposes  of  His  own,  in  ways  that  are  relatively 
to  us  supernatural.  But  the  deliverance  of  Israel  from 
bondage  was  also  the  starting-point  of  a  higher  revela- 
tion. The  character  of  Jehovah  was  displayed  both  in 
the  fact  of  the  deliverance,  and  in  the  manner  of  its  ac- 
complishment. The  God  of  Israel's  salvation  revealed 
Himself  as  a  being  of  transcendent  beneficence,  long- 
suffering,  and  pity  for  the  oppressed2.  And  the 
evidence  for  the  actual  events  of  the  exodus  is  parallel 

1  Cp.  Wellhausen,  Sketch  of  the  History  of  Israel  and  Judah,  p.  7. 

2  Cp.  Bruce,  Chief  End  of  Revelation,  pp.  193,  194. 


94  DIFFERENT  ASPECTS  OF  [LECT. 

to  that  which  attests  the  resurrection  of  Christ.  The 
testimony  lies  in  Israel's  national  life  and  historical 
career,  which  cannot  be  satisfactorily  explained  apart 
from  some  great  original  impulse  that  can  only  be 
attributed  to  divine  power.  The  deliverance  itself 
called  into  existence  a  church  or  witnessing  body, 
which  cherished  the  recollection  of  its  wonderful  past 
in  living  hearts  and  memories.  The  testimony  to  the 
fact  of  the  exodus  was  thus  independent  of  any  written 
record ;  such  a  record  was  quite  possibly  formed  at 
a  period, contemporaneous  with  the  events,  but  as  it  is 
impossible  to  say  whether  any  portion  of  it  survives  in 
its  original  shape,  so  it  is  important  not  to  over- 
estimate our  dependence  on  documentary  evidence. 

To  resume,  in  the  Pentateuch  we  find  a  history  of 
redemption  and  a  revelation  of  Jehovah,  together  with 
that  which  necessarily  accompanies  such  revelation, 
namely  the  institution  of  a  new  relationship  between 
God  and  man,  which  in  the  book  of  Exodus  is  con- 
ceived as  a  covenant  based  on  moral  conditions.  The 
historical  deliverance  was  the  foundation  of  a  higher 
religion,  marked  by  a  higher  standard  of  morality. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  new  morality  was  an 
original  element  in  Mosaic  religion,  whatever  may 
have  been  its  precise  extent  in  the  earliest  legislation. 
The  object  of  Israel's  redemption  was  proclaimed  from 
the  first,  though  it  was  only  very  gradually  and  slowly 
brought  to  fulfilment.  The  original  law  of  Israel,  says 
Professor  Robertson  Smith,  '  is  pervaded  by  a  constant 
sense  that  the  righteous  and  gracious  Jehovah  is 
behind  the  law,  and  wields  it  in  conformity  with  His 
own  holy  nature.  The  law,  therefore,  makes  no  pre- 
tence at  ideality.  .  .  .  The  ordinances  are  not  abstractly 
perfect  and  fit  to  be  a  rule  of  life  in  every  state  of 
society,  but  they  are  fit  to  make  Israel  a  righteous, 
humane,  and  God-fearing  people,  and  to  facilitate 
a  healthy  growth  towards  better  things  l!  In  a  word, 
the  undoubted  tendency  of  the  first  legislation  was 


n]  THE   OLD    TESTAMENT  95 

towards  the  development  of  a  higher  morality.  The 
character  of  the  divine  kingdom  was  ethically  deter- 
mined even  in  the  earliest  stage  of  its  history. 

The  next  division  of  the  Hebrew  Bible — the  book 
of  the  prophets,  former  and  latter — is  mainly  concerned 
with  the  actual  history  of  the  covenant  relationship 
which  Jehovah  had  established  between  Himself  and 
Israel.  In  these  books  history  is  described  or  inter- 
preted from  the  theocratic  point  of  view  ;  events  are 
regarded  as  worthy  of  record  in  proportion  as  they 
illustrate  the  advance  or  the  retrogression  of  the  theo- 
cratic idea.  The  writers  of  the  earlier  books  make  it 
their  chief  aim  to  illustrate  the  blessings  which  follow 
faithful  observance  of  the  covenant  conditions  and  the 
loss  that  follows  unfaithfulness.  The  great  prophets 
themselves  have  two  main  themes :  judgment  and 
redemption.  Their  mission  is  to  denounce  Israel's 
unfaithfulness,  and  to  vindicate  the  spiritual  conditions 
of  the  divine  covenant ;  but  their  warnings  and  rebukes 
alternate  with  promises  of  a  glorious  future — promises 
which  reach  their  climax  in  the  prediction  of  a  new 
covenant [  unlike  the  ancient  covenant  of  the  exodus— 
a  covenant  under  which  the  spiritual  blessings  for  which 
the  heart  of  man  waits  and  longs  shall  be  effectually 
attained.  From  one  point  of  view,  at  any  rate,  this 
passage  may  be  regarded  as  the  culminating  point  of 
Messianic  prophecy ;  so  at  least  it  seems  to  be  treated 
by  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  The 
characteristic  blessings  of  the  Messianic  age  are  vir- 
tually summed  up  in  three  promised  spiritual  gifts  : 
power  to  do  God  s  will,  knowledge  of  His  character, 
remission  of  past  sins. 

Lastly,  the  writings  classed  as  Hagiographa  illustrate 
in  various  forms  the  subjective  apprehension  of  the 
blessings  of  covenant  fellowship.  They  are  the  pro- 
duct of  religious  emotion  and  religious  reason. 
Accordingly  in  this  group  of  books  there  is  something 
that  gives  us  the  sense  of  a  '  many-sided  sympathy '  in 

1  Jer.  xxxi.  31  foil. 


96    DIFFERENT  ASPECTS   OF  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT 

the  Old  Testament l ;  there  belongs  to  some  of  them 
at  least  an  interest  not  merely  national  but  universal, 
while  others  seem  specially  adapted  to  enter  into  the 
circumstances  and  minister  to  the  needs  of  individual 
souls.  There  are  some  elements  in  the  Hagiographa 
which  appear  to  constitute  a  link  of  connexion 
between  Judaism  and  the  heathen  world;  and  others 
which  witness  to  the  providential  care  of  God  for  the 
individual  soul,  and  to  the  divine  regard  for  every 
variety  of  conditions  in  human  life. 

With  this  brief  indication  of  the  way  in  which  the 
different  aspects  of  the  Old  Testament  find  each  its 
peculiar  expression  in  different  parts  of  the  sacred 
volume,  we  may  close  the  preliminary  survey  of  our 
subject. 

1  Ryle,  The  Canon  of  the  O.  T.  p.  182. 


LECTURE   III 


We  have  heard  with  ottr  ears,  O  God>  our  fathers  have  told  us,  what 
thou  hast  done  in  their  time  of  old. — Ps.  xliv.  i. 

AN  inspired  book,  such  as  we  believe  the  Old 
Testament  to  be,  cannot  be  designed  merely  to  record 
the  religious  experiences  or  promote  the  spiritual 
interests  of  one  favoured  nation;  still  less  can  it  be 
intended  for  special  and  particular  groups  of  indivi- 
duals— leaders,  priests,  antiquarians,  or  scholars.  It  is 
meant  for  universal  humanity.  It  must  be  adapted  to 
serve  world-wide  purposes ;  it  must  be  capable  of  being 
to  all  men  everywhere  a  source  of  the  same  divine 
power,  guidance,  grace  and  encouragement  which  it 
supplied  of  old  to  members  of  the  covenant-people. 
We  need  not  pause  to  dwell  on  the  fact  that  Christian 
experience  has  vindicated  this  high  estimate  of  the 
practical  purpose  which  the  Old  Testament  was 
destined  to  fulfil.  I  will  only  notice  that  the  univer- 
sality of  their  scope  helps  us  better  to  appreciate 
the  inexhaustible  variety  which  characterizes  the 
Scriptures — a  variety  not  only  in  the  style  and  tone  of 
the  different  books,  in  their  subject-matter,  point  of 
view,  and  mode  of  treatment,  but  a  variety  also  in 
respect  of  their  canonical  value  and  function.  It  has 
been  suggested  that  if  we  regard  the  Bible  as  an 
organism  in  which  every  particular  book  has  its  dis- 
tinct office  and  function,  the  analogy  justifies  us  in 
considering  some  books  to  be  more  important  than 
others,  some  more  essential  to  the  integrity  of  the 
whole  than  others.  This  way  of  regarding  the  Bible 

H 


93  THE  HISTORICAL   ELEMENT  [LECT. 

is  intended  to  reassure  the  perplexed  by  reminding 
them  that  there  may  be  questions  raised  in  regard  to 
certain  books  '  without  vital  consequence  to  faith 
ensuing  V  We  may,  however,  somewhat  extend  the 
analogy,  and  observe  how  the  phenomena  of  physical 
nature,  viewed  in  their  totality,  illustrate  the  diversity 
which  is  so  noticeable  in  the  contents  of  Scripture. 
For  nature  also  is  a  book  in  which,  as  in  Scripture, 
we  study  the  manifestation  of  a  divine  life.  We 
observe  that  nature  is  in  a  mysterious  way  bound  up 
with  the  fortunes  of  man  :  the  day  of  the  Lord  comes 
upon  it  as  upon  him,  in  judgment  or  benediction. 
When  man  is  glad,  nature  also  rejoices  with  joy  and 
singing.  It  has  an  inner  sympathy  with  him  ;  it  is  the 
sphere  of  his  labour ;  it  is  in  a  great  measure  subject 
to  his  control ;  it  is  the  medium  of  God's  dispensations 
of  power  or  blessing  concerning  him.  Nature,  then, 
may  be  expected  to  give  us  a  clue  to  the  right  view 
of  Scripture.  It  is  infinite  in  its  variety — a  variety  so 
vast  that  thought  has  to  partition  off  one  department 
after  another  for  the  purposes  of  special  investigation. 
Indeed,  the  extent  of  variation  seems  to  outrun  the 
requirements,  so  far  as  our  human  faculties  can  judge, 
of  adaptation  to  particular  ends.  Again,  nature  is 
fragmentary  in  appearance.  It  continually  suggests — 
even  in  the  scenes  of  waste  and  devastation  with  which 
the  surface  of  the  universe  is  overspread — that  God 
employs  means  and  aims  at  results  which  lie  beyond 
the  range  of  our  present  powers  of  perception.  And 
yet  there  is  in  nature  an  inner  unity  and  completeness— 
the  sense  of  which  partly  arises  from  our  instinctive 
transference  to  nature  of  the  unity  which  underlies  our 
own  sense  of  personality  and  partly  follows  from  our 
conception  of  God  as  the  single  sustaining  cause  of  all 

1  Bruce,  Apologetics,  pp.  314,  315.  It  is  noteworthy  that  in  the  First 
Prayer  Book  of  Edw.  VI  (1549)  the  following  rubric  was  inserted  :  'The 
Old  Testament  is  appointed  for  the  first  lessons  at  Matins  and  Evensong, 
and  shall  be  read  through  every  year  once,  except  certain  books  and 
chapiters  which  be  least  edifying,  and  might  best  be  spared,  and  therefore 
are  ielt  unread.'  This  direction  was  omitted  in  the  revised  Book  of  1662. 


in]  IN  THE   OLD    TESTAMENT 


99 


things,  rerum  tenax  vigor1.  This  harmony  is  taken 
for  granted  in  our  blessed  Lord's  parabolic  teaching. 
It  is  the  harmony  of  a  consentient  witness.  Thus  by 
its  completeness  and  by  its  fragmentariness,  by  its 
sternness  and  rigour  no  less  than  by  its  softness  and 
loveliness,  by  what  it  is  and  by  what  it  is  not,  nature 
witnesses  to  the  indwelling  and  sustaining  presence  of 
its  Author.  And  when  we  turn  to  Scripture  we  are 
prepared  to  find  that  God  adapts  Himself  to  the 
diversity  of  human  needs  in  ways  analogous  to  His 
operations  in  nature.  We  find  Scripture  also  marked 
by  an  infinite  variety,  yet  by  a  clearly  felt  harmony. 
We  find  it  to  be  fragmentary,  yet  in  one  view  complete. 
It  exhibits  strange  features  of  apparent  imperfection 
and  anomaly,  yet  it  is  manifestly  an  organic  whole. 
Scripture  is  analogous  to  nature  also  in  this  :  that  while 
its  general  aspect  is  stern  and  sombre,  its  promises  and 
suggestions  point  to  an  unearthly  glory  and  perfection 
of  things  yet  to  be  revealed.  Further,  the  interpreta- 
tion of  Scripture,  as  of  nature,  is  seen  not  to  belong 
exclusively  to  any  one  age  or  time.  Each  generation 
reads  it  with  the  aid  of  fresh  light,  and  finds  in  it  a  new 
significance.  It  contains  much  that  can  only  be  appre- 
hended and  interpreted  in  the  light  of  an  acquired 
knowledge  of  the  whole  and  an  enlarged  acquaintance 
with  human  nature  and  its  needs.  The  attentive 
reader  of  the  Old  Testament,  like  the  student  of  nature, 
has  moments  of  insight  when  he  perceives  *  gleams  like 
the  flashing  of  a  shield.'  For  Scripture,  like  nature, 
points  persistently  beyond  itself  to  a  uniform  purpose 
pervading  the  multiplicity  of  historical  events  which  it 

1  Cp.  Briggs,  Biblical  Study,  p.  359.  '  The  Bible  is  a  vast  organism, 
in  which  the  unity  springs  from  an  amazing  variety.  The  unity  is  not  that 
of  a  mass  of  rocks  or  a  pool  of  water.  It  is  the  unity  that  one  finds  in  the 
best  works  of  God.  It  is  the  unity  of  the  ocean,  where  every  wave  has  its 
individuality  of  life  and  movement.  It  is  the  unity  of  the  continent,  in 
which  mountains  and  rivers,  valleys  and  uplands,  flowers  and  trees,  birds 
and  insects,  animal  and  human  life,  combine  to  distinguish  it  as  a  magni- 
ficent whole  from  other  continents.  It  is  the  unity  of  the  heavens  where 
star  differs  from  star  in  form,  colour,  order,  movement,  size  and  importance, 
but  all  declare  the  glory  of  God.' 

H  2 


ioo  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

describes,  and  of  spiritual  moods  which  it  reflects.  It 
unveils,  even  while  it  partially  conceals,  a  presence  for 
which  the  human  heart  instinctively  yearns,  towards 
which  it  stretches  out  hands — a  presence  which  speaks 
and  appeals  to  man  as  spirit  to  spirit  and  heart  to 
heart. 

And  if  it  should  be  asked  what  led  to  the  formation 
and  eventual  completion  of  a  '  canon '  of  the  Old 
Testament,  the  answer  is  perhaps  something-  of  this 
kind.  The  conviction  arose  after  the  overthrow  of 
the  Hebrew  state  that  it  was  desirable  to  secure  n 
a  permanent  form  the  spiritual  forces  which  had 
built  up  and  moulded  the  characteristic  life  of  the 
Jewish  Church,  and  that  there  already  existed  writings 
sufficiently  qualified  to  fulfil  this  function.  In  regard 
to  the  methods  by  which  canonical  problems  were 
gradually  settled  we  are  very  much  in  the  dark,  but  in 
the  total  result  we  can  trace  the  action  of  religious 
experience,  guided  by  divine  wisdom  to  select  those 
particular  writings  which  had  proved  themselves  best 
adapted  to  develope  and  educate  religious  faith. 

Regarded  in  its  entirety,  the  Old  Testament  is  the 
record  of  man's  communion  with  his  Creator ;  it  traces 
through  all  its  successive  stages  the  history  of  a 
friendship  between  God  and  man  which  reaches  its 
climax  in  the  spiritual  life  of  Christian  saints.  It  tells 
the  chequered  story  of  that  sacred  mutual  love :  on 
the  divine  side,  the  disappointments  of  love — its  con- 
stancy, its  patience,  its  tenderness,  its  hopefulness ;  on 
the  human  side,  the  fallings  away  and  vanishings  of 
love — its  recoveries,  its  heroisms,  its  ventures  of  faith, 
its  perpetual  tendency  towards  consummation  in  a  per- 
fect union  between  God  and  man,  in  the  Incarnation  of 
God  and  the  presence  in  human  hearts  of  the  in- 
dwelling Spirit.  In  the  Old  Testament  the  story  is  all 
but  completed,  and  it  is  enshrined  in  enduring  forms 
of  typical  value  and  significance,  for  in  the  retro- 
gressions and  advancements  of  one  particular  nation 
lies  hidden  the  whole  spiritual  history  of  mankind,  in 


in]  IN   THE   OLD    TESTAMENT  101 

so  far  as  Israel  represents  that  instinct  of  communion 
with  Deity  which  belongs  to  man  as  man. 

We  come,  then,  to  the  Old  Testament  as  to  an 
historical  book.  *  The  Bible,'  says  Ewald  x,  '  is  through 
and  through  of  historical  nature  and  spirit.  Standing 
conspicuous  amid  all  the  efforts  of  antiquity,  the  most 
profound  as  a  work  of  mind,  the  loftiest  in  elevation 
and  sweep  of  thought,  a  product  of  noble  pains,  com- 
pact in  itself  and  finished,  it  bears  upon  its  face,  looked 
at  as  a  whole,  the  clearest  impress  of  historic  truth.' 
Ewald  goes  on  to  draw  an  obvious  contrast  in  this 
respect  between  the  sacred  book  of  Islam  and  the 
Bible.  In  this  there  is  no  need  to  follow  him,  but 
I  would  take  the  above  passage  as  a  keynote  of  the 
discussion  on  which  it  is  our  business  to  enter  to-day, 
respecting  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  historical 
element  in  the  Old  Testament.  For  certainly  the 
primary  and  most  important  subject  of  investigation  in 
regard  to  the  Old  Testament  is  its  claim  to  be  a  trust- 
worthy history  of  redemption.  The  fullness  and  the 
diversity  of  its  contents  serve  to  fill  with  life  and 
colour  the  outlines  of  a  vast  historical  picture,  in  which 
the  progress  and  perfection  of  all  true  religion  is 
included 2. 

The  historical  element  in  the  Old  Testament :  how 
vast  and  how  difficult  a  theme !  It  is  obvious  that  we 
must  begin  by  suggesting  a  few  considerations  essential 
to  the  inquiry. 

i.  In  the  Hexateuch  and  the  historical  books  we 
are  dealing,  as  will  be  allowed  on  all  hands,  with  highly 
composite  narratives,  in  which  the  oldest  historical 
traditions  have  been  revised,  developed,  supplemented, 
and  to  some  extent  remodelled  in  a  religious  spirit 
and  from  a  point  of  view  in  some  cases  priestly, 
in  others  prophetic.  In  the  Hexateuch,  primitive 
traditions  and  later  conceptions  as  to  the  course 
of  Israel's  early  history  have  been  woven  together  in 

1  Revelation,  its  Nature  and  Record,  p.  407. 

2  Ibid.  p.  408. 


102  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

a  double  or  threefold  cord,  so  as  to  present  to  critical 
eyes  the  appearance  of  a  highly  ingenious  and  elaborate 
mosaic  constructed  out  of  materials  of  very  different 
historical  value.  In  the  prophetic  books  of  Judges, 
Samuel,  and  Kings,  early  traditions  have  been  at 
different  times  selected  or  revised  in  such  a  way  as  to 
impress  on  the  narrative  a  uniform  stamp  or  quality 
and  to  infuse  into  it  certain  strongly  marked  religious 
ideas1.  There  are  plain  tokens  in  these  writings  that 
both  the  original  selection  of  facts  and  the  mode  of 
estimating  them  are  determined  by  particular  religious 
preconceptions,  and  it  would  even  appear  that  in  some 
cases  the  special  standpoint  from  which  events  and 
incidents  are  regarded,  and  the  framework  in  which 
they  are  set,  are  of  more  importance  for  religious 
purposes  than  the  facts  recorded.  The  peculiar 
character  of  the  books  of  the  Chronicles  will  be  noticed 
later.  It  is  sufficient  at  this  point  to  say  that  owing 
to  their  late  date  they  cannot  claim  to  be  placed  on  the 
same  level  of  historical  value  as  the  earlier  authorities 
on  which  they  are  manifestly  based. 

What  has  been  now  said  amounts  to  the  assertion  that 
the  written  documents  available  for  constructing  the 
history  of  Israel  are,  when  tested  by  a  modern  standard, 
of  unequal  value  and  of  very  divergent  quality.  They 
contain  fragments  of  contemporary  records  and  annals 
which  would  satisfy  any  modern  tests ;  but  these  are 
intermingled  with  elements  of  quite  another  kind  : 
quasi-historical  narratives  which  clothe  religious 
thoughts  in  a  poetic  and  symbolic  garb 2,  and  popular 
stories  or  traditions  which  owe  their  vivid  beauty  to 
the  creative  genius  of  a  race  singularly  gifted  with 
imaginative  power3.  E madded  in  them  we  find  con- 
siderable fragments  of  ancient  songs  and  of  very  early 
narratives,  borrowed  apparently  from  the  archaic  Book 

1  Cp.  Wellhausen,  Prolegomena,  pp.  293,  294. 

2  This  of  course  applies  to  the  history  of  the  origins.     Cp.  Meinhold, 
Jesus  und  das  A.  T.  pp.  112,  118,  132. 

8  Cp.  Schultz,  O.  T.  Theology,  i.  21. 


in]  IN  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  103 

of  Jashar,  or  the  Wars  of  Jehovah,  which  extolled  the 
exploits  of  primitive  Hebrew  heroes.  There  is  also,  in 
the  Hexateuch  at  least,  a  considerable  element  of 
apparent  history,  which  really  consists  of  law  embodied 
in  the  form  of  historic  precedents.  We  have  perhaps 
been  accustomed  to  regard  the  early  books  of  the  Bible 
merely  as  historical  records  ;  but  critical  inquiry  has  re- 
minded us  that  to  every  species  of  literary  composition 
natural  to  the  ancient  Hebrews  has  been  assigned  by 
the  overruling  Spirit  of  God  a  place  in  the  sacred 
volume,  and  we  must  be  prepared  to  part  boldly  with 
exclusively  modern  prejudices  in  dealing  with  this 
wonderful  literature.  The  trained  historical  sense  of 
western  minds  is  apt  to  take  offence  at  the  notion  that 
the  faculty  of  poetic  or  historic  imagination  should  be 
employed  as  a  suitable  medium  of  instruction  by  the 
Spirit  of  truth.  But  to  those  who  study  the  Old  Testa- 
ment in  the  temper  of  sympathy  and  reverence,  no 
genuine  and  natural  product  of  the  human  mind  will 
appear  common  or  unclean  or  incapable  of  consecration 
to  lofty  and  divine  uses.  Speaking  broadly,  the  docu- 
ments now  under  consideration  seem  to  have  a  twofold 
value.  On  the  one  hand,  without  themselves  professing 
to  give  an  account  of  the  exact  course  of  Israel's 
history,  they  supply  materials  with  which  historical 
investigation  may  successfully  work.  On  the  other  hand, 
they  furnish  a  valuable  means  of  ascertaining  the  point 
[of  view  from  which  Israel  regarded  its  past  career,  and 
the  religious  conceptions  which  influenced  the  literary 
treatment  of  ancient  traditions.  An  attentive  student 
of  the  Old  Testament  cannot  fail  to  notice  how  pro- 
foundly the  records  of  Hebrew  history  are  penetrated 
by  religious  ideas.  The  ideals  and  conditions  of  the 
age  in  which  the  books  attained  to  their  present  form 
I  are  projected  into  antiquity,  and  the  problem  of  the 
'modern  historian  is  to  disentangle  from  its  ideal  or 
imaginative  embodiment  the  genuine  historical  nucleus 
which  unquestionably  underlies  the  record.  As  it 
now  stands,  the  sacred  history  has  been  aptly  com- 


104  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

pared  to  an  epic  poem1,  and  there  is  no  reason  for 
denying  that  a  certain  epic  character  belongs  to  Israel's 
historical  documents  in  common  with  other  ancient 
literature.  The  Semitic  mind  seems  in  fact  to  have 
been  distinctly  wanting  in  the  purely  scientific  interest 
which  loves  historical  precision  and  accuracy  of  detail. 
Its  interest  was  confined  to  the  discernment  of  religious 
principles ;  it  was  inclined  rather  to  interpret  the 
spiritual  significance  of  events  than  to  lay  special 
stress  upon  exactness  of  detail.  To  certain  great  facts 
of  past  history  the  Hebrew  mind  clung  with  un- 
wavering tenacity.  These  were  cherished  as  constant 
objects  of  devout  contemplation  ;  they  were  the 
support  and  joy  of  faith ;  they  were  the  favourite 
theme  of  sacred  poetry  ;  they  were  the  commonplaces, 
so  to  speak,  of  prophetic  preaching.  And  we  cannot 
wonder  that  the  mighty  acts  of  Jehovah  on  behalf  of 
His  people  were  idealized  and  invested  with  a  sacred 
halo  of  glory  or  even  of  romance.  In  admitting  the 
action  of  impassioned  imagination,  we  neither  question 
the  occurrence  of  the  historical  facts  themselves  nor 
detract  from  their  religious  significance.  The  present 
point,  however,  is  that  the  historical  writings  of  the 
Old  Testament  reflect  the  characteristics  of  the  race 
that  produced  them.  Their  historical  quality  is  modi- 
fied and  coloured  by  the  peculiar  genius  of  the  writers, 
and  it  is  accordingly  undesirable  and  imprudent 
to  attach  overmuch  weight  to  historical  details  for 
which  corroborative  evidence  is  not  forthcoming 2.  We 
must  be  content  to  possess  a  narrative  which  in  its 
main  outlines  is  demonstrably  authentic,  but  we  must 

1  See  Renan,  Histoire  du  peuple  d 'Israel,  bk.  ii,  ch.  4  s.  fin.  and  Kittel, 
Af  History  of  the  Hebrews,  vol.  i.  p.  40  (Eng.  Tr.).   So  Hofmann  ap.  Kohler, 
Uber  Berechtigung  der  Kritik  des  A.  T.  p.  41.     Cp.  J.  Darmesteter,  Les 
Prophetes  d?  Israel,  p.  240 :   '  Ainsi  se  forma  cette  merveilleuse  e'pope'e 
publique,  exemple  unique  d'une  histoire  refaite  a  coup  d'ideal.' 

2  Mr.  Schechter,  Studies  in  Judaism,  p.  xviii,  refers  to  the  interesting 
fact  that  some  Jewish  scholars  have  substantially  accepted  the  above  view 
of  the  historical  portions  of  Scripture.    Zunz,  for  instance,  holds  that  the 
early  history  is  presented  '  in  an  ideal  light,'  in  accordance  with  a  '  tradi- 
tional interpretation  adapted  to  the  religious  needs  '  of  a  particular  age. 


m]  IN  THE   OLD    TESTAMENT 


105 


not  allow  ourselves  to  reason  as  if  all  the  sources 
available  for  ascertaining  the  true  course  of  Israel's 
history  were  of  equal  value.  And  in  endeavouring  to 
arrive  at  a  general  estimate  of  the  historical  trust- 
worthiness of  the  records,  we  must  distinguish  between 
the  various  strata  of  the  ancient  tradition,  which  are 
either  left  in  juxtaposition  or  have  been  fused  together 
into  a  single  narrative.  It  is  here  that  we  shall  in  the 
long  run  be  bound  to  submit  to  the  guidance  of  experts 
in  criticism,  accepting  their  verdict  where  they  agree, 
and  suspending  judgment  where  they  differ.  Thus 
a  cautious  student  will  recollect  that  the  early  history 
of  the  Hebrews,  as  of  other  races,  is  involved  in 
great  obscurity ;  he  \vTill  therefore  be  on  his  guard 
against  the  idola  tribus  which  occasionally  influence 
the  critical  mind — the  passion  for  positive  results,  for 
finality,  for  systematization  even  in  spheres  where  these 
are,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  unattainable.  He 
will  not  be  unduly  impatient  of  necessary  distinctions, 
and  of  a  certain  complexity  and  obscurity  in  problems 
which  he  might  antecedently  have  expected  to  find 
simple  and  straightforward. 

2.  A  second  consideration  relating  to  our  present 
subject  is  the  fact  that  a  mass  of  evidence,  which  bears 
upon  the  primitive  history  of  the  Hebrews,  is  being 
gradually  accumulated  in  other  fields  of  inquiry,  and 
it  is  accordingly  a  plain  duty  to  make  allowance  for 
actual  or  probable  results  of  archaeological  research  as 
a  modifying  factor  in  our  estimate  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment narratives,  corroborating  or  correcting  the  con- 
clusions that  might  be  drawn  from  the  internal  evidence 
of  the  written  documents1.  The  Hebrew  Scriptures 
after  all  form  only  one  fragment  of  a  vast  literature,  of 
which  other  portions  are  gradually  coming  to  light  in 
different  parts  of  the  East.  These  discoveries  prove 

1  In  the  Bampton  Lectures  of  1859  by  the  Rev.  G.  Rawlinson,  an 
attempt  was  made  to  state  anew  '  the  historical  evidences  of  the  truth  of 
the  Scripture  records,  with  special  reference  to  the  doubts  and  discoveries 
of  modern  times.'  Clearly  the  attempt  must  be  repeated  from  time  to 
time  in  the  history  of  the  Church. 


io6  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

not  only  that  the  art  of  writing  is  of  far  greater  antiquity 
than  was  once  supposed,  but  also  that  a  certain  degree 
of  literary  culture  prevailed  throughout  western  Asia, 
even  at  a  period  preceding  the  exodus  of  Israel  from 
Egypt1.  Hence  it  is  not  more  than  reasonable  to 
expect  that  they  may  modify  some  of  the  conclusions 
which  had  been  reached  by  literary  criticism  respecting 
the  most  ancient  periods  of  Hebrew  history.  It  would, 
however,  be  unwise  to  overrate  the  extent  to  which 
critical  results  are  likely  to  be  modified  by  this  branch 
of  knowledge.  There  are  no  doubt  discoveries  which 
lead  us  to  defer  our  acceptance  of  certain  critical 
verdicts  ;  there  are  others  which  have  to  some  extent 
qualified  or  corrected  the  axioms  on  which  literary 
criticism  has  at  times  too  confidently  insisted.  But 
there  is  an  agreement  between  literary  critics  and 
archaeologists  on  at  least  two  points  :  they  are  at 
one  in  their  estimate  of  the  general  character,  as 
distinct  from  the  intrinsic  value,  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment documents ;  and  they  se.em  also  to  be  agreed 
in  acknowledging  that  we  have  reached  a  period 
of  reconstruction  2.  This  may  well  encourage  us  in 
an  attempt  to  deal  not  merely  critically  but  con- 
structively with  the  literature  and  theology  of  the  Old 
Testament.  The  real  value  of  sacred  archaeology 
is  that  it  enables  us  to  enter  into  the  circumstances  of 
those  to  whom  the  Word  of  God  came,  with  that 
intelligent  sympathy  which  alone  can  appreciate  the 
quality  of  their  writings  and  the  conditions  which 
moulded  or  influenced  their  thought.  Indeed,  the 
change  which  has  come  over  our  conception  of  the  Old 
Testament  documents  seems  to  be  due  not  merely  to 
the  results  of  research  into  special  points  of  history,  but 
also  to  the  fact  that  there  has  been  a  development  of  the 
historical  sense,  and  an  enlargement  of  the  power  of 
insight  into  the  peculiar  characteristics  of  the  Hebrew 

1  See  generally  Sayce,  The  Higher  Criticism  and  the  Momiments.     On 
the  antiquity  of  writing  in  the  East,  Corn  ill,  Einleitung  in  das  A.  T.  §  4. 

2  Sayce,  op.  cit.  p.  24.     Cp.  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  inj.  C.  p.  16. 


in]  IN  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  107 

mind.  When  we  are  asked  why  we  hesitate  to  ascribe 
to  the  early  books  of  the  Old  Testament  a  uniformly 
historical  character,  we  can  only  reply,  first,  that  there 
is  no  sufficient  reason  for  assuming  that  Hebrew 
history  has  been  exempted  from  the  ordinary  con- 
ditions observable  in  all  other  primitive  annals ;  and 
secondly,  that  in  any  case  the  ancient  Scriptures  are 
a  genuine  product  of  the  Semitic  mind,  guided  and 
controlled  no  doubt  by  the  wisdom  of  the  divine 
Spirit,  but  clearly  reflecting  the  characteristics  of  the 
oriental  temperament — its  imaginative  capacity,  its 
passionate  moral  fervour,  its  intuitive  perception  of 
spiritual  laws  and  realities. 

3.  Once  more  it  is  necessary  to  repeat  with  all 
possible  emphasis  that  a  Christian  reader  of  the  Old 
Testament  will  feel  no  a  priori  difficulties  in  regard  to 
the  occurrence  of  miracles  l.  On  the  contrary,  he  will 
be  prepared  to  find  in  the  course  of  redemptive  history 
creative  epochs  at  which  the  moral  character  and 
purpose  of  Almighty  God  manifest  themselves  in 
a  manner  relatively  to  our  ordinary  experience  super- 
natural. The  possibility  of  miracle  in  point  of  fact 
logically  follows  from  the  belief  which  is  everywhere 
conspicuous  in  the  Old  Testament — the  belief  in  the 
living  personality  of  God.  The  anthropopathic  expres- 
sions which  are  so  frequently  applied  to  Jehovah — the 
ascription  to  Him,  for  example,  of  love,  hatred,  wrath, 
jealousy,  scorn,  and  repentance — do  tend  to  inculcate, 
perhaps  in  the  only  possible  form,  a  fundamental  truth 
of  religion,  namely  that  the  Creator  and  Ruler  of  the 
universe  is  akin  to  man  in  the  essential  characteristics 
of  His  being — in  the  possession  of  will,  character,  and 
moral  freedom.  Inadequate  of  course  as  descriptions 
of  the  divine  nature,  anthropopathic  modes  of  speech 
reflect  this  conviction  which  dominated  the  Hebrew 
mind  and  which  gained  strength  and  clearness  in  pro- 
portion to  the  advance  of  Israel's  religion.  But,  as  was 
previously  pointed  out,  a  general  acknowledgment  of 

1  See  Rawlinson's  Bampton  Lectures  (1859),  pp.  27  foil. 


io8  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LE.VT. 

the  a  priori  credibility  of  the  Old  Testament  miracles 
does  not  bind  us  to  regard  every  supernatural  occur- 
rence recorded  in  the  Old  Testament  as  literal  fact. 
In  regard  to  this  point  we  may  the  more  confidently 
claim  freedom  because,  on  the  whole,  miracle  is  kept 
in  the  background  in  the  Old  Testament,  while  in 
some  passages  (such  as  Deut.  xiii.  1-3)  a  comparatively 
low  estimate  of  its  evidential  value  is  expressed. 
Indeed,  it  would  appear  that  it  was  only  in  the  age 
of  Judaism  that  there  arose  a  kind  of  passion  for 
the  miraculous,  in  some  respects  anticipating  the 
temper  of  mind  which  sought  after  a  sign  and  was 
rebuked  as  evil  and  adulterous  by  our  Lord J.  Miracles 
may  justly  be  believed  to  have  accompanied  a  momen- 
tous creative  act  of  God,  such  as  that  which  brough ; 
into  being  the  nationality  of  Israel 2 ;  but,  after  all,  their 
chief  significance  in  the  view  of  the  Old  Testament 
writers  is  that  they  constitute  an  unmistakeable  sign  of 
Jehovah's  presence  among  His  people  at  particular 
crises  of  their  history  3.  They  do  not  seem  in  the  ola 
dispensation  any  more  than  in  the  new  to  have  beei 
a  normal  part  of  the  divine  method  under  normal 
circumstances 4.  So  far  as  we  can  judge  from  the 
records,  the  closing  stage  of  the  journey  from  Egypt 
to  Canaan  appears  to  have  been  marked  by  a  gradual 
cessation  of  miracle 5,  a  fact  which  illustrates  the  action 

1  Cp.  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  inj.  C.  p.  409. 

2  Cp.  Deut.  xxxii.  6,  Isa.  xliii.  I,  &c. 

8  Cp.  Joshua  iii.  10.  Schultz,  op.  tit.  vol.  ii.  pp.  193  foil.,  has  some 
admirable  remarks  on  the  O.  T.  view  of  miracle.  He  points  out  how  the 
Hebrew  mind,  with  its  vivid  consciousness  of  God's  immediate  action  in 
nature,  would  view  a  miracle :  regarding  it  not  as  an  unnatural  or  super-, 
natural  event,  but  rather  as  a  striking  proof  of  God's  power  and  freedom. 
To  the  Hebrew  a  miracle  f  does  not  stand  out  as  an  irregular  individual 
occurrence  in  contrast  with  a  differently  ordered  whole  ;  but  it  stands  out 
as  a  specially  striking  individual  occurrence  in  contrast  with  other  single 
events,  which,  being  less  striking  owing  to  their  frequency,  are  less  calcu- 
lated to  produce  the  impression  of  God's  almighty  power  in  executing 
His  purposes.'  It  is  a  significant  fact,  and  consistent  with  his  treatment 
of  the  Gospel  narrative,  that  M.  Renan  attributes  the  miracles  of  the 
wilderness-journey  to  imposture  (Histoire  du  peuple  d1  Israel,  bk.  i,  ch.  13). 

4  Cp.  Mason,  The  Relation  of  Confirmation  to  Baptism^  p.  477. 

5  Cp.  Joshua  v.  12. 


iin  IN  THE   OLD  TESTAMENT 


109 


of  what  has  been  called  a  '  law  of  parsimony '  in  revela- 
tion— of  a  principle  of  restraint  and  limitation,  avoiding 
both  waste  and  extravagance. 

,  We  may  now  pass  to  the  special  subject  of  this 
lecture,  prepared  by  what  has  been  already  said  to  be 
contented  with  broad  general  conclusions  only,  and 
remembering  that  in  this  matter,  as  in  many  others,  it 
is  possible  to  overrate  the  importance  of  completeness 
and  precision.  For  convenience'  sake  we  shall  do  well 
to  limit  our  survey  of  the  history  of  Israel  to  three 
distinct  epochs  :  (i)  the  patriarchal  age,  (2)  the  Mosaic 
period,  (3)  the  period  of  the  Judges  and  of  the  early 
monarchy.  From  the  nature  of  the  case  it  is  plain  that 
the  evidence  available  for  the  history  of  each  epoch  is 
different  in  quality,  but  this  need  not  deter  us  from 
attempting  to  form  some  conception  of  its  value  that 
may  be  practically  serviceable  in  the  study  of  the  Old 
Testament. 


I. 

In  dealing  with  the  patriarchal  period  we  must  bear 
in  mind  that  the  age  to  be  investigated  is,  relatively 
speaking,  prehistoric.  The  available  documents,  in  their 
final  shape  at  least,  belong  to  an  age  removed  by  an 
interval  of  several  centuries  from  the  events.  The 
larrative  which  is  generally  held  by  critics  to  be  the 
'earliest,  that  of  the  Jehovist,  seems  indeed  to  be  based 
:>n  ancient  popular  tradition,  but  it  describes  the  age  of 
the  patriarchs  as  in  some  essential  respects  so  closely 
similar  to  later  periods,  that  it  can  only  be  regarded  as 
a  picture  of  primitive  life  and  religion  drawn  in  the 
light  of  a  subsequent  age.  We  have  here  to  do  with 
the  earliest  form  of  history,  traditional  folklore  about 
primitive  personages  and  events,  worked  up  according 
to  some  preconceived  design  by  a  devout  literary 
artist l.  The  question  at  once  naturally  arises  how 

1  Cp.  Wellhausen's  Prolegomena,  pp.  295,  296. 


no  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

these  narratives  are  to  be  employed  and  inter- 
preted. As  is  well  known,  some  very  extreme  con- 
clusions have  been  advanced  by  critics,  as  for  example 
that  the  patriarchs  are  not  real  historical  personages 
at  all,  but  mere  personifications  of  particular  Semitic 
tribes l.  Some  writers  maintain  that  *  Abraham,' '  Isaac,' 
and  'Jacob'  are  titles  of  primitive  tribal  deities2.  It 
is  not  my  business  to  investigate  these  theories,  which 
in  their  extreme  form  are  never  likely  to  pass  beyond 
the  stage  of  unverified  hypothesis.  It  may  at  once 
be  pointed  out  that  while  no  convincing  reasons  have 
ever  been  alleged  for  doubting  the  historic  personality 
of  the  great  patriarchs,  there  are  some  considerations 
which  materially  support  the  traditional  view.  There 
are  of  course  historical  points  respecting  which  the 
verdict  of  a  purely  literary  criticism  cannot  be  final, 
and  its  more  or  less  provisional  conclusions  need  to  be 
supplemented  or  even  corrected  by  archaeological  data. 
The  discoveries  of  recent  years  have  admittedly  shown 
that  during  the  age  in  which  Hebrew  tradition  places 
the  patriarchs,  there  was  much  more  intercourse  between 
Palestine  and  the  far  East  than  was  formerly  suspected, 
— a  circumstance  which  increases  the  probability  that 
a  genuine  historical  substratum  underlies  the  patriarchal 
narratives 3.  Again,  there  is  a  striking  element  of 
internal  consistency  in  the  story  of  the  patriarchs.  It 
fits  in  with  known  facts ;  it  accounts  for  subsequent 
developments.  The  entire  course  of  events  in  the 
Mosaic  period  seems  to  presuppose  the  nomad  and 
migratory  stage  which  tradition  connects  with  the 
person  of  Abraham  and  his  immediate  descendants. 

1  See  Kuenen,  The  Religion  of  Israel,  vol.  i.  p.  ill.     For  a  similar  but 
slightly  modified  view  see  Wellhausen,  Prolegomena,  p.  320.     Cp.  Renan, 
Histoire  du  pcuple  d' Israel,  bk.  i,  ch.  8. 

2  See  Kittel,  History  of  the  Hebrews  (Eng.  Tr.),  i.  171. 

8  Cp.  Sanday,  Bampton  Lectures,  p.  221.  The  importance  of  Gen.  xiv, 
which  seems  to  lie  outside  the  recognized  sources  of  the  Pentateuchal 
narrative,  must  not  be  over-estimated.  It  renders  credible,  but  cannot 
be  said  actually  to  prove,  the  facts  related  in  the  patriarchal  narrative. 
See  some  judicious  remarks  of  Meinhold,  Jestis  und  das  A.  T.  p.  124. 
Cp.  Kittel,  op.  tit.  i.  175-180. 


in]  /Ar   THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  m 

As  Professor  Kittel,  following  Dillman,  points  out,  *  the 
religious  position  of  Moses  stands  before  us  unsupported 
and  incomprehensible  V  unless  we  accept  the  tradition 
which  traces  to  the  patriarchs  the  rudiments  at  least 
of  a  higher  religion  and  the  first  tentative  occupation 
of  the  promised  land.  The  fact-basis  which  underlies 
the  story  of  Abraham's  call  may  be  his  migration  from 
Chaldaea,  dictated  by  motives  of  *  vague  dissatisfaction  I 
with  prevalent  religious  beliefs  and  practices,  rather 
than  a  new  clearly  conceived  idea  of  God  V  Thus  we 
may  hold  it  to  be  intrinsically  probable  that  so  unique 
a  history  as  that  of  the  elect  people  had  precisely 
such  a  beginning  as  the  book  of  Genesis  relates.  The 
circumstances  indeed  of  the  patriarchal  age  may  not 
have  been  in  all  points  what  they  afterwards  appeared 
to  minds  trained  in  the  school  of  levitical  piety  and 
imbued  with  strict  theocratic  ideas  ;  but  it  may  be 
confidently  claimed  for  the  patriarchal  narratives  that 
they  give  the  true  ideal  significance  of  the  events 
summarily,  and  perhaps  obscurely,  described  in  them. 

While,  however,  in  receiving  the  narrative  as  sub- 
stantially true,  though  coloured  by  later  prophetic 
conceptions  of  Israel's  history,  we  are  accepting  an 
account  which  is  entirely  consistent  with  all  that  we 
otherwise  know  respecting  the  redemptive  methods  of 
Almighty  God3,  we  have  no  interest  in  denying  a 
certain  element  of  idealization  in  the  description  of  the 
primitive  period.  There  may  possibly  be  an  element 
of  truth  even  in  the  view  that  the  figures  of  the  patri- 
archs are  tribal  personifications.  We  may  agree  with 
Baethgen  that  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  are  historical 
persons,  but  that  '  these  personalities  are  invested  with 
the  characteristics  which  afterwards  marked  the  tribes 
descended  from  them  V  It  is  likely  enough  that  the 

1  History  of  the  Hebrews,  vol.  i.  p.  174. 

2  Bruce,  Apologetics,  p.  199.  8  Cp.  ib  'd.  pp.  195-199. 

*  Baethgen,  Der  Gott  Israels  und  die  Goiter  der  Heiden,  quoted  by 
Meinhold,  Jesus  und  das  A.  T.  p.  120:  'Die  hervorstechenden  Eigen- 
schaften,  durch  welche  ein  Volk  sich  vom  andern  unterscheidet,  werden 
auf  die  Helden  der  Vorzeit  iibertragen,  so  dass  diese  zu  typischen  Gestalten 


H2  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

great  figures  of  the  remote  past  were  made  the  subjects 
of  many  popular  legends  and  traditions l ;  and  it  is  no 
doubt  possible  that  to  a  certain  extent  a  tribal  history 
may  have  been  expressed  in  a  personal  and  individual 
form  2.  It  might  be  admitted,  for  instance,  if  it  could 
be  made  to  appear  historically  probable,  that  Joseph 
was  a  prominent  chieftain  belonging  to  a  tribe  which  bore 
his  name,  and  that  the  story  of  his  personal  career 
conceals  the  record  of  a  tribal  migration  from  Canaan  to 
Egypt 3.  There  is  ample  scope  for  speculation  on  this 
and  kindred  points,  nor  does  a  general  acceptance  of 
the  Hebrew  tradition  in  its  main  outlines  preclude 
a  certain  latitude  of  view  in  regard  to  such  minor 
details.  We  have  indeed  no  reason  for  abandoning, 
even  though  we  may  be  required  to  modify,  our 
ordinary  view  of  the  patriarchal  narratives ;  but  we 
should  be  open  to  the  charge  of  misconceiving  alto- 
gether the  spirit  and  intention  with  which  they  were 
compiled  if  we  insisted,  as  some  are  inclined  to  do,  on 
their  possessing  a  character  which  cannot  justly  be 
attributed  to  them.  We  are  dealing  with  stories  which 
are  probably  derived  for  the  most  part  from  oral  tra- 
dition, and  are  unlikely  to  have  been  based  to  any 
great  extent  on  contemporary  records,  though  the 
existence  of  such  documents  is  admittedly  possible. 
It  has  been  sometimes  asserted  that  oral  tradition  was 
more  likely  to  be  preserved  in  a  state  of  integrity 
among  the  Hebrews  than  elsewhere,  but  the  grounds 

werden  ....  Mir  steht  es  fest  dass  Abraham,  Isaak  und  Jakob  .  .  .  ge- 
schichtliche  Personlichkeiten  sind ;  ebenso  sicher  1st  est  mir,  dass  diese 
Personlichkeiten  zu  idealen  Tragern  der  Charactereigenschaften  geworden 
sind,  welch e  das  Volk  als  seine  eigenen  erkannte.' 

1  Cp.  Darmesteter,  Les  Prophetes  d' Israel,  pp.  220  foil. 

2  In  the  Book  of  Judith  (v.  6  foil.)  the  movement  of  Abraham  from 
Chaldaea  is  described  as  a  tribal  migration. 

3  So,  for  instance,  Renan  and  Kittel.      Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures, 
pp.  12,  13,  follows  Kuenen  and  Renan  in  regarding  all  the  patriarchs  as 
legendary   heroes  '  individualized   heroes  eponymij  whose  family    story 
represents  the  early  career  of  the  Beni-Israel.     On  similar  grounds  it  has 
been  held  that  names  like  '  Mamre '  and  '  Eshcol '  are  collective   and 
represent  tribes.     See  however  a  criticism  of  the  theory  in  Robertson, 
'2  he  Early  Religion  of  Israel,  pp.  123  foil.,  and  note  xi  (p.  499). 


in]  IN  THE   OLD    TESTAMENT  113 

urged  in  support  of  such  a  belief  are  precarious  and 
sometimes  arbitrary.  Accordingly,  while  there  are 
sufficiently  good  reasons  for  holding  that  the  main 
outlines  of  the  pre-Mosaic  history  are  trustworthy,  it 
would  be  unwise  to  insist  particularly  on  more  than 
the  following  points,  which  are  unlikely  to  be  disputed, 
i.  The  narratives  of  Genesis  present  in  the  main  a 
faithful  picture  of  the  general  conditions  of  patriarchal 
life,  especially  in  respect  of  its  moral  characteristics. 
A  Hebrew  writer,  we  must  remember,  would  be  con- 
tinually in  a  position  to  observe  with  his  own  eyes  the 
habits  and  customs  of  primitive  civilization  ;  among^ 
the  tribes  of  Bedawin  Arabs  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Jordan,  some  of  the  unchanging  features  of  nomadic 
shepherd-life  may  be  witnessed  to  this  day.  The 
oldest  narrative,  though  coloured  by  prophetic  ideal- 
ism, gives  a  vivid  portrait  of  patriarchal  life :  its  simple 
forms  of  worship,  its  family  priesthood,  its  sacrificial 
feasts,  its  sacred  customs  and  social  institutions. 
Moreover,  there  are  features  in  the  story  which  point/ 
to  a  comparatively  low  standard  of  ethical  and  religious\ 
development,  especially  the  use  of  cunning  and| 
violence,  together  with  a  certain  element  of  sexual 
licence.  We  notice  also  obvious  traces  of  the  close 
affinity  that  existed  between  the  religion  of  the  Hebrew 
patriarchs  and  the  common  ideas  and  practices  of  the 
neighbouring  Semitic  tribes :  the  notion,  for  instance, 
that  the  revelation  of  deity  was  confined  to  certain 
definite  spots,  such  as  Sichem,  Bethel,  Hebron,  and 
Beersheba ;  the  reverence  paid  to  sacred  pillars,  trees, 
and  other  emblems  which  were  regarded  as  monuments 
and  tokens  of  a  special  presence  of  God ;  and  the  use 
of  teraphim  for  oracular  purposes,  a  custom  which 
apparently  lingered  to  a  comparatively  late  period1. 

1  See  Riehm,  ^477.  Theologie,  pp.  51,  52.  Cp.  Gen.  xxi.  33,  xxviii. 
1 8  foil.,  xxxi.  19,  xxxv.  2,  14,  &c.  Teraphim  were  still  found  in  the  time 
of  David  (i  Sam.  xix.  13).  On  the  general  characteristics  of  the  patri- 
archal age  see  Renan,  Histoire  du  peuple  d 'Israel,  bk.  i,  chh.  2  and  3. 
M.  Renan  forms  a  high  estimate  of  the  book  of  Genesis  regarded  as  '  the 
idealistic  description  of  an  age  which  really  existed.'  A  book,  he  adds, 

1 


H4  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

These  indications  of  a  very  rudimentary  religious 
condition  are  valuable,  not  only  as  enhancing  the 
credibility  of  the  narratives,  but  also  as  deepening  our 
consciousness  of  the  divine  influence  which  actually 
guided  the  Hebrew  race  from  the  first,  controlling  the 
development  of  faith,  accepting  what  was  rude  and 
primitive  as  a  needful  stage  in  a  constant  upward 
movement,  and  gradually  raising  the  ancestors  of 
Israel  above  the  general  level  of  their  age.  It  is  not, 
I  think,  too  strong  to  assert  with  Schultz  that  *  we 
cannot,  in  point  of  fact,  picture  to  ourselves  the  rise 
of  the  Hebrew  religion  in  any  other  way  than  Hebrew 
legend  does,'  when  it  represents  God  as  entering  into 
converse  and  communion  with  primitive  man  in 
modes  suited  to  his  present  capacity.  The  whole 
subsequent  course  of  revelation  tends  to  confirm  the 
idea  that  at  some  point  in  early  Hebrew  history 
there  actually  took  place  such  an  event  as  we  believe 
the  *  call '  of  Abraham  to  have  been  :  a  self-manifesta- 
tion of  Almighty  God  and  a  vocation  addressed  to 
a  particular  man,  on  whose  response  to  the  divine 
call  the  future  development  of  the  redemptive  move- 
ment was  allowed  to  depend.  This  is  the  important 
point,  and  there  are  many  extraneous  matters  in 
regard  to  which  we  can  well  afford  to  be  neutral  or 
indifferent.  All  that  we  are  told  by  literary  critics 
respecting  other  internal  features  of  the  early  narra- 
tives— for  instance,  respecting  the  presence  in  them 
of  mythical  details  or  euhemeristic  elements ] — only 
serves,  if  modern  theories  can  be  substantiated,  to 
illustrate  more  vividly,  first,  the  antecedently  probable 
fact  that  Israel's  religion  was  rooted  in  the  natural 
soil  of  Semitic  usage  and  worship ;  secondly,  the  fact 
that  it  contained,  even  in  its  most  rudimentary  stage, 

which  is  not  strictly  historical,  may  well  supply  a  perfect  historical  picture. 
Elsewhere,  he  remarks  (pref.  p.  xiii,  Eng.  Tr.)  that  '  nothing  in  the  history 
of  Israel  can  be  explained  without  reference  to  the  patriarchal  age.' 

1  Such  elements  are  probably  to  be  discerned  in  the  traditions  of  the 
antediluvian  period.  Such  names  as  Tubal-cain,  Jubal,  Enoch,  Lamech, 
&c.,  point  to  the  possibility  of  figures  originally  mythical  becoming  human. 
See  the  cautious  remarks  of  Schultz,  vol.  i.  pp.  112  foil. 


in]  IN  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  115 

a  divinely  implanted  germ  or  element,  which  by  per- 
petual upward  pressure  ultimately  attained  to  complete 
predominance,  and  imparted  to  the  faith  of  Israel  its 
capacity  in  the  fullness  of  time  to  welcome  and  adore 
the  Son  of  God  himself,  manifest  in  human  flesh. 

2.  In  the  patriarchal  tradition  we  may  reasonably 
contend  that  we  have  a  faithful  representation  of  the 
two  principal  factors  which  determined  the  distinctive 
character- of  Israel's  religion:  namely,  a  personal  and 
redemptive  operation  of  God  in  history  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  response  of  human  faith  on  the  other. 
If  we  wished  to  select  the  master- thought  of  the  Old 
Testament,  we  should  be  justified  in  saying  that  it  is 
belief  in  the  providence  and  direct  action  of  the  living 
God.  Certainly  this  was  the  point  of  view  from  which 
the  writers  of  the  Pentateuchal  narratives  described 
the  early  stages  of  the  history ;  it  was  the  standpoint 
from  which  the  prophets  reviewed  and  interpreted 
Israel's  wonderful  past.  It  was  the  living  experience 
of  Jehovah's  might  that  made  Israel  unique  among 
nations :  Unto  thee  it  was  showed,  that  thou  mightest 
know  that  the  Lord  he  is  God ;  there  is  none  else  beside 
him.  Out  of  heaven  he  made  thee  to  hear  his  voice, 
that  he  might  instruct  thee :  and  upon  earth  he  showed 
thee  his  great  fire ;  and  thou  heardest  his  words  out  of 
the  midst  of  the  fire.  And  because  he  loved  thy  fathers, 
therefore  he  chose  their  seed  after  them,  and  brought 
thee  out  in  his  sight  with  his  mighty  power  out  of 
Egypt^.  Whatsoever  the  Lord  pleased,  says  the 
psalmist,  that  did  he  in  heaven,  and  in  earth,  and  in 
the  sea,  and  in  all  deep  places 2.  In  the  Old  Testament 
Jehovah  is  not  merely  represented  as  one  who  con- 
trols the  course  of  natural  events  ;  He  interposes,  He 
actively  operates,  He  brings  mighty  things  to  pass,  He 
makes  Himself  known  in  acts  that  display  the  tenacity 
of  an  invincible  will,  the  splendour  of  a  spiritual  pur- 
pose, the  reality  of  redemptive  power.  And  although 
in  early  times  the  mass  of  the  nation  probably  thought 

1  Deut.  iv.  35-37.  2  Ps.  cxxxv.  6. 

I  2 


n6  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

of  Jehovah  as  one  who  worked  only  on  behalf  of  His 
own  elect  people,  yet  the  prophets  and  those  who  were 
imbued  with  their  spirit  recognized  the  divine  hand  in 
universal  history.  They  teach  that  the  sovereignty  of 
Jehovah  is  co-extensive  with  human  life  and  society, 
and  that  His  moral  purpose  embraces  all  the  nations 
of  the  world.  They  magnify  His  power  to  initiate, 
to  impel,  to  control,  to  overrule l.  Is  anything  too 
hard  for  the  Lord?  they  ask2.  Ah  Lord  God  !  cries 
Jeremiah,  behold,  thou  hast  made  the  heaven  and  the  earth 
by  thy  great  power  and  stretched  out  arm,  and  there  is 
nothing  too  hard  for  thee  .  .  .  the  great,  the  mighty  God, 
the  Lord  of  hosts  is  his  name,  great  in  counsel,  and 
mighty  in  work :  for  thine  eyes  are  open  upon  all  the 
ways  of  the  sons  of  men 3.  That  the  Most  High 
ruleth  in  the  kingdom  of  men*  is,  in  short,  a  primary 
axiom  of  the  highest  Hebrew  faith,  and  any  expres- 
sions, however  anthropomorphic,  which  serve  to  convey 
an  idea  of  the  living  personality  of  God  are  employed 
by  the  sacred  writers  without  any  fear  of  misconception. 
It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  point  out  that  this  idea 
of  deity  pervades  the  narratives  of  Genesis.  The 
living  God  Himself  is  ever  at  work  controlling  and 
judging  the  deeds  of  men.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
book  teaches  in  the  most  striking  and  emphatic  way 
the  necessity  and  significance  of  man's  response  to 
the  revealed  will  and  electing  love  of  God.  It  is 
noticeable  that  Kuenen  who  questions  the  historical 
existence  of  the  patriarchs,  explicitly  rejects  the  idea 
of  a  divine  election  to  which  their  faith  was  a  response. 
'Is,'  he  asks,  'the  belief  in  Israel's  selection  still  tenable 
in  our  days  ?  That  the  first  Christians — who  knew  but 
a  small  portion  of  the  inhabited  world,  and  could  hope 
that  within  a  comparatively  short  time  the  true  religion 
would  have  reached  that  world's  uttermost  bounds— 

1  Amos  ix.  7  ;  Deut.  ii.  12,  22;  Isa.  v.  26  foil.,  vii.  20,  viii.  7,  ix.  n, 
x.  5  foil.,  xxiii.  9,  xlv.  i ;  2  Kings  v.  I. 

*  Gen.  xviii.  14.  3  Jer.  xxxii.  17  foil. 

4  Dan.  iv.  17. 


in]  IN  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  n7 

should  have  acquiesced  in  this  view  is  most  natural. 
But  we  ?  Is  this  belief  in  harmony  with  the  experience 
which  we  have  now  accumulated  for  centuries  together, 
and  with  our  present  knowledge  of  lands  and  nations  ? 
We  do  not  hesitate  to  reply  in  the  negative.  .  .  .  We 
now  perceive  that  the  means  of  which  God  was  formerly 
thought  to  have  made  use  are  altogether  dispro- 
portioned  to  the  end  which  in  reality  was  to  be 
attained.  So  long  as  we  yet  knew  but  little  of  "  the 
heathen,"  and  formed  but  an  indistinct  idea  of  their 
number,  their  characteristics,  and  their  development, 
we  could  reasonably  believe  that  God  had  suffered 
them  to  walk  in  their  own  ways  in  order,  with  a  view 
to  them  and  their  future,  to  manifest  Himself  first  of 
all  to  one  nation.  Now  this  idea  seems  to  us  a  childish 
fancy.  Israel  is  no  more  the  pivot  on  which  the 
development  of  the  whole  world  turns  than  the  planet 
which  we  inhabit  is  the  centre  of  the  universe. 
In  short,  we  have  outgrown  the  belief  of  our 
ancestors  V 

Now  the  Old  Testament,  it  need  scarcely  be  said, 
assumes  precisely  the  contrary  state  of  things  to  be 
the  fact.  The  principle  of  election  is  obviously  con- 
ceived to  be  a  primary  element  in  the  divine  method, 
and  accordingly  the  whole  story  of  Genesis  describes 
the  response  made  to  God's  action  by  successive  indi- 
viduals— men  in  whom  had  been  awakened  a  certain 
susceptibility  to  the  divine  self-revelation.  There  were 
holy  prophets — that  is,  men  of  spiritual  genius — since 
the  world  began.  The  religion  which  was  to  embrace 
mankind  could  only  find  an  entrance  through  some 
solitary  soul,  quick  to  apprehend  and  to  welcome  the 
promises  of  God.  This  is  tantamount  to  saying  that 
the  progress  of  the  race  in  religion,  as  in  other  things, 
has  depended  upon  individuals ;  and  even  if  it  could 
be  shown  that  the  name  of  Abraham  is  merely  a 
mythical  abstraction,  or  a  tribal  personification,  it  would 
yet  be  reasonable  and  indeed  necessary  to  assume  that 

1  Religion  of  Israel,  vol.  i.  pp.  8,  9. 


n8  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

at  a  certain  point  in  history  an  individual  man  appeared, 
capable  of  so  entering  into  communion  with  God  as 
to  be  the  true  father  of  the  faithful.  In  point  of 
fact,  does  not  the  whole  history  of  religion  show 
that  there  are  critical  moments  when  everything 
turns  on  the  fidelity,  the  simplicity,  the  courage,  with 
which  some  individual  soul  surrenders  itself  to  obey 
the  will  of  God  ?  The  only  adequate  explanation 
of  the  rise  and  growth  of  Hebrew  religion  is  the 
supposition  that  God  actually  made  known  His  will 
to  some  individual  human  spirit,  and  manifested  Him- 
self to  him  singly  and  alone.  Abraham's  history, 
says  Dean  Church,  '  is  marked  as  the  history  of  a 
man,  a  soul  by  itself  in  relation  to  Almighty  God  ; 
not  as  one  of  a  company,  a  favoured  brotherhood,  or 
chosen  body,  but  in  all  his  doings  single  and  alone, 
alone  with  the  Alone,  one  with  One,  with  his  Maker 
as  he  was  born  and  as  he  dies,  alone  :  the  individual 
soul,  standing  all  by  itself,  in  the  presence  of  its  Author 
and  Sustainer,  called  by  Him  and  answering  to  His 
call,  choosing,  acting,  obeying,  from  the  last  depths 
and  secrets  of  its  being1.'  Belief  in  God,  belief  that 
what  He  promises  He  is  able  to  perform,  faith — this 
is  the  second  essential  factor  in  the  religion  of  the  Old 
Testament.  It  is  easier  to  believe  that  this  faith  was 
born  in  the  heart  of  an  individual  than  that  it  was 
the  simultaneous  impulse  of  a  tribe ;  but  even  this 
latter  supposition  would  not  necessarily  conflict  with 
the  principle  of  election,  nor  with  the  great  promi- 
nence assigned  to  faith  by  the  Old  Testament  as  a 
vital  element  in  the  spiritual  history  of  mankind.  I  say 
then  confidently  that  the  early  narratives  do  faithfully 
present  the  conditions  and  factors  which  alone  account 
for  the  rise  and  onward  movement  of  Israel's  religion. 
Thus  there  seems  to  be  no  just  reason  for  doubting 
the  main  incidents  of  Abraham's  traditional  career. 
The  rite  of  circumcision  may  well  have  been  selected 

1  Church,  Discipline  of  the  Christian  Character,  p.  20. 


in]  IN  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  n9 

as  a  fitting  sign  of  the  higher  relationship  with  God  to 
which  Abraham  and  his  tribe  felt  themselves  called  \ 

3.  It  will  be  convenient  here  to  touch  upon  a  delicate 
and  difficult  point  suggested  by  the  special  character- 
istics of  the  Pentateuchal  narrative,  a  point  to  which 
some  reference  has  already  been  made.  I  allude  to 
the  fact  that  the  Pentateuch  unquestionably  exhibits 
an  element  of  what  may  be  called  idealization.  The 
character  of  the  ancient  patriarchs  and  their  manner 
of  worship,  the  story  of  the  Egyptian  plagues,  the 
experiences  of  the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness,  their 
movements  to  and  fro,  their  conflicts,  their  tribal 
arrangements,  their  internal  polity  and  order,  above 
all,  their  sanctuary  with  its  ordinances  of  sacrifice — 
all  these  not  only  must  be  supposed,  but  can  actually, 
as  I  believe,  be  shown,  to  have  been  to  a  considerable 
extent  idealized  by  the  pious  reflection  of  a  later  age. 
It  has  been  pointed  out  that  a  special  tone  and  ten- 
dency characterizes  each  of  the  principal  documents 
which  appear,  so  far  as  our  present  knowledge  extends, 
to  form  the  substance  of  the  Pentateuch.  The  Elohist 
writer,  for  example,  seems  to  narrate  the  history  of 
Israel's  origins  from  a  prophetical  standpoint ;  he  in- 
terprets in  a  religious  spirit  what  he  records,  and  aims 
at  bringing  out  the  didactic  significance  of  events 2. 
The  Jehovist,  on  the  other  hand,  displays  an  inclination 
towards  profound  theological  reflection.  He  is  pene- 
trated by  the  thought  of  Jehovah's  mercifulness,  long- 
suffering,  and  covenant-faithfulness.  He  delights  to 
trace  the  successive  stages  in  the  development  of 
faith.  It  is  he  who  tells  how  Abraham  believed  .in  the 
Lord,  and  he  counted  it  to  him  for  righteousness ;  how 
a  heavenly  benediction  ever  crowns  the  response  of 
human  faith  to  the  electing  grace  of  God3.  The 
Jehovist  appears  in  fact  to  survey  the  field  of  history 

1  See  the  section  in  Riehm,  A  TL  Theologie,  on  '  The  Religion  of  the 
Patriarchs,'  §  9. 

2  See  e.  g.  Gen.  1.  20. 

3  Gen.  xv.  6.     Cp.  Exod.  xiv.  31,  xix.  9  ;  Num.  xiv.  n. 


120  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

with  the  eye  of  mature  spiritual  experience  ;  in  the 
lowly  beginnings  of  Hebrew  history  he  discerns  the 
divinely  intended  consummation — the  ultimate  purpose 
which  from  the  first  filled  the  incidents  of  ordinary  life 
with  solemn  significance l.  Once  more,  the  author  of 
the  priestly  document  evidently  purposes  to  give  a 
systematic  and  circumstantial  sketch  of  the  sacred 
institutions  of  the  theocracy,  and  from  this  standpoint 
he  regards  the  entire  career  of  the  nation.  In  effect 
he  presents  us  with  an  ideal  picture  of  the  Mosaic 
age.  '  His  representation  as  a  whole,'  says  Dr.  Driver, 
'  seems  to  be  the  result  of  a  systematizing  process 
working  upon  the  [ancient]  materials,  and  perhaps  also 
seeking  to  give  sensible  expression  to  certain  ideas  or 
truths  V  Of  this  ideal  sketch  there  is  beyond  reason- 
able doubt  an  historical  basis,  but  the  facts  and  institu- 
tions described  are  so  conceived  as  to  exemplify  ideal 
theocratic  principles.  It  is  no  part  of  my  plan  to  enter 
at  length  into  the  well-known  characteristics  of  the 
priestly  code.  By  way  of  illustration  it  will  suffice  to 
refer  to  one  point.  It  would  appear  that  the  dominant 
thought  of  the  priestly  writer  is  that  of  Jehovah's 
abiding  presence  in  the  midst  of  His  people.  That 
sublime  prophetic  idea  was,  as  it  were,  visibly  realized 
in  the  local  position  and  organized  cidtiis  of  the  second 
temple.  But  the  writer  seems  to  project  back  into  the 
Mosaic  age  an  ideal  system  which  was  only  realized  in 
fact  at  a  period  several  centuries  later  than  the  exodus. 
He  accordingly  describes  the  tabernacle  as  occupying 
a  central  position  in  the  camp  of  the  Israelites,  whereas 
the  earlier  composite  narrative  (JE)  regularly  repre- 
sents the  *  tent  of  meeting '  as  outside  the  camp. 
Moreover,  the  writer's  usual  conception  of  the  collec- 
tive people  is  as  a  '  congregation  3/  a  term  that  does 
not  occur  in  the  non-priestly  portions  of  the  Hexateuch. 

1  Gen.  ix.  22  foil. ;  xvi.  12 ;  xix.  31  foil. ;  xxv.  25  foil. ;  xlix.  9  foil. 

2  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  Old  Testament,  p.  120.     See 
generally  Wellhausen,  Prolegomena,  ch.  viii ;  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  in 
J.  C.  lect.  xiii.  3  my. 


in]  IN   THE   OLD    TESTAMENT  121 

Now  it  is  to  be  observed  that  there  is  absolutely  no 
question  of  the  writer's  good  faith  ;  he  does  not  carry 
his  idealizing  tendency  to  the  point  of  overlooking  the 
sins  by  which  the  divine  purpose,  either  for  the  people 
or  for  Moses  himself,  was  thwarted  or  abrogated l. 
But  in  historical  details,  especially  those  which  relate 
to  chronology,  the  priestly  writer  is  evidently  more 
concerned  with  ideal  conceptions  than  with  actual  facts. 
His  work  is  interwoven  with  the  older  writing,  which 
represents  a  different  tradition,  in  such  a  way  as  to 
make  the  total  result  unique  :  a  kind  of  blending  of 
fact  with  theory,  of  actual  institutions  with  an  imagi- 
native conception  of  their  original  form  and  ideal 
significance. 

It  may  assist  us  to  form  a  clearer  notion  of  the 
idealizing  process  under  consideration  if  we  endeavour 
to  depict  to  ourselves  the  motive  and  purpose  of  the 
priestly  compilers  of  the  Pentateuch,  and  the  method 
of  procedure  which  they  appear  to  have  adopted.  The 
facts  are  probably  somewhat  as  follows.  At  a  late 
stage  in  Israel's  history,  apparently  during  the  exile  in 
Babylon,  when  the  process  of  national  development 
seemed  to  be  arrested,  and  an  age  of  enforced  inac- 
tivity and  reflection  succeeded  a  period  of  tumult 
and  disaster,  an  unknown  priestly  writer,  or  possibly 
a  school  of  writers,  took  in  hand  the  task  of  framing 
a  compendious  and  concrete  picture  of  the  early  history 
of  the  Hebrew  people.  They  were  guided,  no  doubt, 
by  the  light  of  that  divine  purpose  for  Israel  which 
the  oracles  of  prophecy  and  the  teachings  of  calamity 
had  at  length  brought  home  to  the  national  conscience. 
To  a  devout  Jew  placed  in  these  circumstances  the 
lessons  of  history  would  appear  unmistakeable.  It  was 
plain  that  from  the  first  Jehovah  had  formed  Israel  to 
be  a  holy  community,  bound  together  by  sacred  insti- 
tutions of  divine  appointment  and  by  the  presence  of 
God  Himself  dwelling  in  the  national  sanctuary.  The 
authors  of  the  priestly  code  evidently  entered  on  their 

1  See  Exod.  xvi.  2  ;  Lev.  x.  I  ;  Num.  xx.  12,  24 ;  xxvii.  13  foil.  &c. 


122  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

task  filled  with  precise  legal  conceptions  of  what  an 
ideally  holy  community  should  be,  and  accordingly 
their  theory  of  Israel's  history  is  entirely  religious. 
'  To  the  community  is  assigned  a  purely  religious 
end :  political  aims  are  ignored,  for  the  people  lives 
for  God's  sake  and  not  for  its  own1/ 

On  the  whole  it  cannot,  I  think,  be  fairly  disputed 
that  Prof.  Robertson  Smith's  general  description  of  the 
writing  in  question  is  correct.  *  It  is  only  inform, 
he  says,  '  an  historical  document ;  in  substance  it  is 
a  body  of  laws  and  precedents  having  the  value  of  law, 
strung  on  a  thread  of  history  so  meagre  that  it  often 
consists  of  nothing  more  than  a  chronological  scheme 
and  a  sequence  of  bare  names/  From  the  fact  that 
'  the  supposed  Mosaic  ordinances  and  the  narratives 
that  go  with  them  are/  practically  and  at  least  in  their 
developed  form,  '  unknown  to  the  history  and  the 
prophets  before  Ezra.  .  .  to  the  Deuteronomic  writers 
and  ...  to  the  non-priestly  parts  of  the  Pentateuch, .  .  . 
it  follows  with  certainty  that  the  priestly  recasting  of 
the  origins  of  Israel  is  not  history  (save  in  so  far  as  it 
merely  summarizes  and  reproduces  the  old  traditions 
in  the  other  parts  of  the  Hexateuch)  but  Haggada, 
i.  e.  that  it  uses  old  names  and  old  stories,  not  for  the 
purpose  of  conveying  historical  facts,  but  solely  for 
purposes  of  legal  and  ethical  instruction  V 

Such  is  the  theoretical  point  of  view  from  which  the 
priestly  narrative  of  Israel's  early  history  and  sacred 
ordinances  is  compiled.  The  object  of  the  writers  is 
not  to  supersede  the  work  of  the  prophetic  narrators, 
but  to  supply  a  counterpart  to  it.  Long  before  the 
exile  a  fusion  of  the  two  main  historical  documents 
of  the  Pentateuch  (the  Jehovistic  and  the  Elohistic  3) 
had  in  all  probability  taken  place  ;  the  combined  narra- 

1  See  Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures,  No.  vi.  p.  319.     This  lecture  gives 
an  admirable  account  of  the  influence  under  which  P  was  compiled. 

2  O.  T.  inj.  C.  p.  420. 

3  For  a  good  account  of  the  different  documents  see  Dillmann,  Comm. 
on  Genesis,  pp.  ix-xiv.     Observe,  Dillmann  uses  for  P,  E,  J,  the  symbols 
A,  B,  C. 


in]  IN  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  123 

tives  had  been  revised  from  the  Deuteronomic  stand- 
point, and  had  already,  as  it  seems,  been  united  with 
the  book  of  Deuteronomy  \  At  the  close  of  the  exile, 
writers  of  the  priestly  school  completed  what  had  been 
already  begun,  combining  the  materials  already  extant, 
and  piecing  them  together  in  a  framework  which  in 
form  is  historical,  but  is  really  little  more  than  a  con- 
tinuous exposition  of  the  legal  and  religious  ordinances 
of  Israel,  tracing  them  for  the  most  part  to  Moses 
himself. 

Such,  then,  seems  to  have  been  the  literary  process 
towards  which  the  available  evidence  distinctly  points. 
Without  unduly  insisting  on  the  accuracy  of  details, 
we  may  attempt  to  describe  summarily  the  view 
which  our  present  knowledge  may  lead  us  to  form  of 
the  Pentateuch  in  its  final  shape.  The  work  viewed 
in  its  entirety  as  a  single  product  contains  two  expo- 
sitions of  Israel's  history  which  stand  side  by  side, 
separate  and  distinct  in  origin,  purpose,  and  internal 
characteristics,  forming  together  a  combination  of 
different  elements,  of  prophetic  narrative  with  priestly 
tor  ah.  It  contains  history  idealized,  the  actual  historic 
traditions  and  the  ideal  goal  towards  which  the  history 
was  tending  being  presented  in  juxtaposition.  In  esti- 
mating, therefore,  the  evidential  value  of  the  narratives, 
it  is  essential  to  bear  constantly  in  mind  the  two  ele- 
ments they  contain  :  on  the  one  hand,  the  ancient 
traditions  of  Israel's  past,  moulded  in  forms  of  rare 
grace,  dignity,  and  simplicity  under  prophetic  influence  ; 
on  the  other,  side  by  side  with  these,  and  often  inter- 
woven with  them,  the  idealistic  and  imaginative  sketch 
of  the  priestly  writers,  whose  chief  interest  lay  not  in 
tracing  the  actual  course  of  Israel's  primaeval  history, 
but  in  exhibiting  the  spiritual  and  theocratic  consum- 
mation towards  which  it  was  advancing  from  the  first. 

1  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  in  J.  C.  p.  425.  The  history  of  the  ancient 
'law  of  holiness  '  (Lev.  xvii-xxvi)  is  obscure.  It  comes  to  us  embedded 
in  P,  but  the  process  by  which  it  was  taken  up,  expanded,  and  accommo- 
dated to  P's  standpoint  cannot  be  traced.  The  antiquity  of  many  of  the 
injunctions  contained  in  this  law,  especially  in  chh.  xviii-xx,  is  undoubted. 


124  THE  HISTORICAL   ELEMENT  [LECT. 

Some  writers  have  spoken  with  undisguised  contempt 
of  the  authors  of  the  priestly  document,  but  it  would  be 
absurd  to  charge  them  with  wilful  desertion  or  falsifi- 
cation of  the  historical  tradition.  Even  while  they 
'.reshape  the  narrative  in  order  to  set  forth  later  laws 
under  the  conventional  form  of  Mosaic  precedent1'  they 
leave  the  ancient  tradition  of  JE  substantially  in  the 
form  handed  down  to  them.  How  shallow  and  unjust 
are  those  criticisms  of  the  narrative  which  ignore  its 
essential  character !  how  futile  is  the  attempt  to 
measure  them  by  the  standard  of  modern  historical 
literature  !  To  treat  the  priestly  narratives  as  worth- 
less fictions  is  anachronistic ;  to  treat  them  as  literal 
and  undiluted  history  is  to  ignore  the  distinction 
between  history  and  Haggadah  2.  The  Haggadistic 
treatment  of  history  implies  a  certain  amplification  of 
incidents  recorded  or  alluded  to  in  the  original  narra- 
tives, according  to  the  views  and  necessities  of  later 
times.  It  admits  the  play  of  fancy  ;  it  manipulates  the 
details  of  sacred  history  in  such  a  way  as  may  best 
serve  the  purpose  of  instruction  or  edification.  It  was 
in  Judaistic  times  at  least  a  recognized  mode  of  dealing 
with  the  early  narratives  which  probably  had  passed 
through  a  long  process  of  development.  Since  criticism 
has  discovered  so  much  that  illustrates  the  mind  and 
intention  of  the  different  contributors  to  the  Pentateuch, 
we  are  bound  to  study  it  not  only  with  more  intelli- 
gence and  sympathy,  but  also  with  more  discrimination 
than  was  formerly  possible. 

The  importance  of  the  priestly  writing  from  a  religious 
point  of  view  is  certainly  great.  The  Pentateuchal  law 
played  a  significant  and  necessary  part  in  the  develop- 
ment of  true  spiritual  religion.  It  preserved  and 
sheltered  some  of  the  loftiest  and  most  beautiful  ideals 
of  prophecy  :  e.  g.  the  idea  of  a  holy  people  dedicated 

1  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  in  J.  C.  p.  387. 

2  Ibid.  p.  430.     Obs.  P  is  essentially  a  law-book,  and  cannot  be  used  as 
an  independent  source  for  the  actual  history  of  the  Mosaic  and  pre-Mosaic 
period.     Cp.  Kittel,  op.  at.  i.  pp.  96  foil. 


m]  IN  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  125 

to  God,  and  of  the  divine  consecration  of  its  natural 
life  ;  the  idea,  in  a  word,  of  an  indwelling  presence  of 
God  among  men.  What  criticism  justly  questions  is 
whether,  in  view  of  our  present  knowledge,  we  have 
a  right  to  go  to  the  priestly  literature  for  historical 
information ;  whether  such  use  of  it  does  not  imply  an 
entire  misconception  of  its  essential  character. 

But  an  element  of  idealization  in  the  stricter  sense 
is  to  be  found  even  in  the  older  prophetic  narratives. 
The  primitive  story  describes  the  ancestors  of  the 
Hebrew  people  with  an  evident  intention  to  represent 
them  as  types  of  spiritual  character.  It  is  true  indeed 
that  there  is  a  vivid  reality,  and  faithfulness  to  human 
nature  in  the  narratives  of  Genesis  which  strengthens 
our  impression  of  their  general  truth  to  fact.  These 
life-like  figures — so  entirely  human  both  in  their  weak- 
ness and  in  their  strength — cannot  be  mere  creations 
of  pious  fancy.  But  even  in  these  vigorous  delineations 
of  actual  men  and  women  we  are  able  to  recognize 
the  overruling  guidance  of  Him  to  whose  purposes  the 
narrators  unconsciously  ministered.  The  figure  of 
Abraham  especially,  the  friend  of  God,  is  to  a  certain 
extent  idealized.  He  is  represented  as  a  prophet, 
a  saint,  a  servant  of  God,  a  priestly  intercessor,  a  hero 
of  faith,  a  recipient  of  splendid  promises;  his  outward 
prosperity  and  wealth  correspond  to  his  spiritual  dignity; 
it  is  manifest  that  he  is  pourtrayed  from  the  stand- 
point of  men  who  fully  recognize  his  transcendent 
importance  in  the  history  of  religion — an  importance 
which  eventually  seems  to  overshadow  even  that  of  the 
great  lawgiver  of  Israel  himself.  Further,  the  very 
fact  that  in  the  New  Testament  Abraham  reappears 
as  the  most  sublime  figure  in  the  past  history  even  of 
all  mankind1,  confirms  the  impression  that  we  have 
here  a  case  of  legitimate  and  profitable  idealization. 
Abraham  is  an  historic  personage,  but  he  is  also 
a  spiritual  type  :  he  is  the  ideal  representative  of  the 

1  Cp.  Rom.  iv;  Gal.  iii;  Jas.  ii.  21  foil.;  Heb.  xi.  8  foil.,  besides  the 
passages  in  the  gospels,  Luke  iii.  8  ;  John  viii.  33  foil. 


126  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

life  of  faith  and  of  separation  from  the  idolatries  of 
an  evil  world.  He  prefigures  '  the  ideal  character  and 
aims  of  the  people  of  God  V  His  descendants,  too, 
are  typical  figures  :  Isaac  is  a  type  of  the  life  of 
spiritual  sonship,  Jacob  of  the  spirit  of  service,  Joseph 
of  the  purifying  power  of  suffering  and  of  the  glory 
that  follows  it.  The  spiritual  purpose  of  the  narra- 
tives is  manifest ;  they  are  literally  penetrated  with 
religious  ideas.  In  fact,  as  Origen  forcibly  insists  2,  the 
Pentateuch  was  intended  to  serve  higher  purposes 
than  merely  that  of  supplying  historical  information. 
It  was  written  for  our  learning ;  it  is  profitable 
for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction 
in  righteousness*.  It  was  intended  to  be  a  mirror 
of  human  life,  not  only  as  it  is,  but  as  it  should 
be  and  is  hereafter  destined  to  become  ;  a  glass 
in  which  a  man  may  behold  the  face  of  his  genesis 4 
and  go  his  way,  ready  not  to  forget,  but  to  fulfil 
what  he  has  learned. 

Considering  indeed  the  real  function  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, we  cannot  fail  to  appreciate  the  value  of  the 
ideal  element  which  we  have  been  illustrating.  If 
the  object  of  the  Bible  be  to  teach  us  the  outlines 
of  religious  character  and  the  true  knowledge  of  God, 
to  instruct  us  how  we  ought  to  walk  and  to  please  God 5, 
it  might  be  justly  maintained  that  these  Old  Testa- 
ment portraits  of  human  character,  faithful  in  general 
outline  but  idealized  in  colour,  are  most  suitable  for 
the  purpose  of  edification.  The  peculiar  features 
and  essential  elements  of  the  religious  life  are  in  fact 
nowhere  so  vividly  pourtrayed  as  in  the  living  and 

1  Driver,  Sermons  on  the  Old  Testament,  p.  127.     Cp.  Aug.  serm.  ii  : 
'  Quicquid  scriptura  dicit  de  Abraham  et  factum  est,  et  prophetia  est.' 

2  See  A.  Jukes,  The  Types  of  Genesis  briefly  considered  as  revealing 
the  development  of  human  nature,  esp.  pref.  p.  xiii.     Cp.  Orig.  Horn.  2  in 
Exod.  §  i  :  '  Nos  omnia  quae  scripta  sunt  non  pro  narrationibus  anti- 
quitatum,  sed  pro  disciplina  et  utilitate  nostra  didicimus  scripta.'     Horn. 
I  in  Exod.  §  5  :  '  Non  nobis  haec  ad  historian!  scripta  sunt  neque  putandum 
est  libros  divinos  Aegyptiorum  gesta  narrare,  sed  quae  scripta  sunt  ad 
nostram  doctrinam  et  commonitionem  scripta  sunt.' 

3  Rom.  xv.  4  ;  2  Tim.  iii.  16.  4  Jas.  i.  23.  5  I  Thess.  iv.  I. 


m]  IN  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  127 

breathing  pictures  of  the  patriarchs.  The  fundamental 
conditions  of  the  life  of  communion  and  converse  with 
God  find  here  an  entirely  adequate  expression.  In 
the  hands  of  the  inspired  writers  who  narrate  them, 
the  simple  incidents  of  the  patriarchal  story  become 
parables  of  the  spiritual  life.  The  call  of  Abraham, 
the  trial  of  his  faith,  Isaac's  willing  self-surrender,  the 
vision  of  Jacob  at  Bethel,  the  sorrows  and  exaltation  of 
Joseph  and  his  self-discovery  to  his  brethren — these  and 
such- like  incidents  may  be  accepted  as  historical,  but 
in  any  case  they  are  much  more  than  this.  They  are 
symbolic  parables  of  God's  dealings  with  His  children 
in  every  age  of  human  history ;  they  are  narratives  to 
which  the  spiritual  experience  of  saints  has  set  its 
seal.  The  phrase  '  children  of  Abraham '  tends  from 
the  first  employment  of  it  in  Scripture  to  acquire  a 
moral  and  spiritual  significance.  The  great  patriarch 
is  the  father  of  all  them  that  believe.  That  the  idealized 
sketch  of  his  life  was  intended  to  convey  sacred  teach- 
ing is  actually  proved  by  the  continuous  experience  of 
those  who  in  every  age  have  set  their  faith  and  hope 
on  God  *. 

On  the  whole,  we  shall  feel  that  in  frankly  recog- 
nizing the  idealistic  element  in  the  Old  Testament  nar- 
ratives we  are  on  the  way  to  a  more  sympathetic  and 
intelligent  study  of  them.  For  the  element  is  present 
in  other  historical  books ;  to  some  extent  it  is  to  be 
looked  for  in  all.  The  character  of  David,  for  instance, 
is  idealized  in  the  first  book  of  the  Chronicles,  much  as 
Abraham's  figure  is  in  Genesis  2.  Confining  our  atten- 
tion, however,  to  the  patriarchs,  we  may  observe  that 
the  spirit  of  due  veneration  for  them  was  displayed 
not  only  in  the  circumstantial  minuteness  of  the 
beautiful  narratives  relating  to  their  career,  but  in 
the  ascription  to  them  of  ancient  oracles,  like  the 
Blessing  of  Jacob,  which  probably  had  an  independent 

1  Cp.  i  Pet.  i.  21. 

2  On  the  character  of  David  see  Cheyne,  Aids  to  the  Devotit  Study  of 
Criticism,  part  i.     Kenan's  account  of  David  is  greatly  impaired  by  the 
strong  prejudice  displayed  in  it  (Histoire,  &c.,  bk.  ii.  chh.  16  foil.). 


128  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LE'CT. 

origin  1.  Thus,  in  the  memory  of  the  nation  of  which 
they  were  the  honoured  progenitors,  the  patriarchs 
veritably  survived  in  such  a  way  that  they,  being 
dead,  yet  continued  to  speak  2. 

Before,  however,  we  leave  the  subject,  it  is  desirable 
to  suggest  an  answer  to  the  question  whether  idealiza- 
tion of  history  such  as  we  have  indicated  is  morally 
justifiable.  In  part  the  answer  has  already  been  given 
in  the  consideration  that  the  Bible  was  intended  to 
teach  religion  rather  than  natural  knowledge,  the  ways 
of  God  rather  than  the  exact  course  of  history,  the 
needs,  aspirations,  and  capacities  of  human  nature 
rather  than  the  achievements  or  sufferings  of  individual 
men.  But  a  further  suggestion  may  be  advanced. 
A  true  justification  of  the  scriptural  mode  of  present- 
ing history  lies,  we  may  think,  in  the  fact  that  the 
sacred  writers  are  reading  the  story  of  human  life  from 
a  divine  point  of  view.  We  are  told  of  each  stage 
in  creation  that,  though  relatively  imperfect,  it  was 
good  in  the  sight  of  God:  God  saw  that  it  was  good. 
On  a  somewhat  similar  principle  the  characters  of  the 
patriarchal  age  and  of  subsequent  periods  are  delineated 
not  merely  from  the  human,  but  also  from  the  divine 
standpoint.  We  see  them  in  their  imperfections,  their 
frailties,  their  deceits,  their  deeds  of  violence,  lust  or 
revenge,  which  do  not  surprise  us  if  we  bear  in  mind 
that  even  the  highest  level  attained  by  Old  Testament 
morality  is  comparatively  low  and  defective  ;  but  there 
is  another  way  of  estimating  human  character,  which  is 
more  true  and  more  God-like.  He  who  discerned  the 
end  in  the  beginning  loved  even  a  fallen  and  alienated 
world ;  He  beheld  it  ennobled,  transfigured,  and  glori- 
fied ;  He  saw  what  the  universe  might  ultimately 
become,  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelieth 
righteousness*.  In  the  same  spirit  perhaps  the  inspired 
writers  idealize  the  characters  which  they  describe,  for 
it  is  the  mark  of  the  spirit  of  goodness  not  to  impute 

1  Ewald,  Revelation  and  its  Record,  p.  323. 

2  Cp.  Heb.  xi.  4.  3  2  Pet.  iii.  13. 


m]  IN  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  129 

evil,  but  to  discern  in  all  things  the  best  and  highest 
that  they  contain.  Indeed,  this  habit  of  idealization  is 
a  fundamental  trait  of  the  sacred  writers  both  in  the 
Old  and  New  Testament.  How  cordially  St.  Paul 
appreciates  and  makes  much  of  what  is  good  and 
promising  in  the  several  churches  to  which  he  indites 
his  epistles  !  He  commends  their  faith,  their  good- 
ness, their  patience,  their  love  ;  he  gives  thanks  to 
God  that  in  everything  they  are  enriched  by  him,  in  all 
titter ance  and  in  all  knowledge ;  he  rejoices  over  their 
election  of  God 1  ;  he  glories  in  their  constancy ;  he 
recognizes  with  large-hearted  charity  each  token  that 
they  exhibit  of  Christian  sanctity  and  grace.  Similarly 
St.  John  in  each  of  his  messages  to  the  seven  churches 
begins  with  praise.  And  our  blessed  Lord  Himself 
ever  sets  us  the  example  of  quickness  and  readiness 
to  welcome  goodness  wherever  it  is  to  be  found. 
'  A  devil,'  it  has  been  said,  *  can  mark  our  faults,  but  it 
needs  the  grace  of  God  to  mark  the  dawn  of  grace  V 
When  God  looks  upon  us  He  loves  us  non  quales 
sumus  sed  quales  erimus;  and  it  is  not  unfair  to  suppose 
that  even  this  tendency  to  idealization,  which  might  at 
first  sight  be  supposed  to  impair  the  strictly  historical 
value  of  the  early  narratives,  is  after  all  a  token  of  the 
working  of  the  divine  Spirit,  who  alone  can  penetrate 
below  the  surface  of  life  and  discern  in  each  human 
soul  what  it  may  yet  become — what  it  is  on  the  way 
to  be.  It  is  not  fanciful,  but  the  truest  wisdom,  to 
think  loftily  of  the  early  stages  of  a  movement  which 
was  destined  to  culminate  in  the  Incarnation  of  the 
Word.  There  was  an  ideal  greatness  about  him  who 
rejoiced  to  see  Christ's  day ;  and  he  saw  it,  and  was 
glad 3.  Poor,  base,  and  low  may  have  seemed  the 
origins  of  Hebrew  religion ;  Jacob  was  as  a  wandering 
Syrian  ready  to  perish  in  the  eyes  of  Laban,  but  the 
favour,  the  tenderness,  and  the  gentleness  of  God 
lifted  him  to  greatness.  Hast  thou,  says  the  writer  of 

1  See  I  Cor.  i.  5  ;  I  Thess.  i.  4,  £c.  2  Jukes,  op.  cit.  p.  9. 

3  John  viii.  56. 

K 


130  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

Job,  eyes  of  flesh,  or  seest  thou  as  man  seeth?  Are 
thy  days  as  the  days  of  man  ?  are  tJiy  years  as  mans 
days,  that  thoii,  enquirest  after  mine  iniquity,  and 
sear  chest  after  my  sin1  ?  Job  appeals  to  his  Maker 
as  any  man  may  appeal  who  is  conscious  of  his  frailty, 
yet  is  assured  of  his  heavenly  vocation,  who  has  been 
haunted  by  heavenly  visions  which  he  fears  to  disobey, 
who  has  dreamed  splendid  dreams  of  the  heights  to 
which  human  nature  may  attain,  and  of  the  things 
which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love  him  2. 

It  has  seemed  desirable  to  dwell  at  some  length  on 
this  point,  inasmuch  as  it  is  of  more  importance  to 
recognize  the  principles  which  have  moulded  the 
structure  of  the  Old  Testament  narratives,  than  to 
determine  precisely  their  historical  value,  even  if  we 
could  reasonably  hope  to  do  so.  What  has  been  said 
about  the  patriarchal  history  practically  amounts  to 
this  :  that  in  it  we  possess  a  general  outline  of  Israel's 
origins,  coloured  to  a  considerable  extent  by  the 
thoughts  and  habits  of  a  later  period.  The  writers 
were  evidently  penetrated  by  certain  moral  and  re- 
ligious ideas ;  their  aim  was  apparently  didactic,  and 
they  were  influenced  by  an  instinctive  tendency  to 
idealize  what  they  described.  This  peculiarity,  while 
it  is  very  far  from  depriving  the  narratives  of  all 
historical  value,  is  yet  specially  calculated  to  serve  the 
purposes  of  spiritual  edification  and  instruction  in 
righteousness  3.  The  historian  may  complain  with 
Kuenen  that  the  strictly  historical  kernel  which  can 
be  safely  extracted  from  such  a  book  as  Genesis  is 
vague  and  more  or  less  indefinite  4.  The  fact  is  that 
the  great  figures  of  the  patriarchal  period  are  presented 
to  us  in  narratives  '  of  which/  says  Prof.  G.  A.  Smith, 
*  it  is  simply  impossible  for  us  at  this  time  of  day  to 
establish  the  accuracy.'  We  have  simply  to  accept 

1  Job  x.  4  foil.  2  i  Cor.  ii.  9.  3  2  Tim.  iii.  16. 

4  See  The  Religion  of  Israel,  vol.  i.  p.  113.  Cp.  G.  A.  Smith,  The 
Preaching  of  the  Old  Testament  to  the  Age,  p.  37.  See  Note  A  at  the 
end  of  the  lecture. 


in]  IN  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  131 

the  fact  that  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge 
there  are  no  clear  criteria  by  which  to  distinguish 
precisely  the  historical  nucleus  contained  in  the  patri- 
archal narratives  from  the  idealized  picture.  If  there 
is  uncertainty  on  this  point  we  can  only  conclude  that 
knowledge  of  the  precise  details  of  the  history  is  not 
of  vital  importance.  But  from  the  standpoint  of 
religion,  the  book  is  rich  in  instruction  beyond  what 
even  the  keenest  student  can  fathom.  '  In  Genesis,' 
it  has  been  said,  '  is  hid  all  Scripture,  as  the  tree  is  in 
the  seed  V  '  The  book  of  Genesis,'  says  another  living 
writer,  *  is  the  true  and  original  birthplace  of  all 
theology.  It  contains  those  ideas  of  God  and  man, 
of  righteousness  and  judgment,  of  responsibility  and 
moral  government,  of  failure  and  hope,  which  are  pre 
supposed  through  the  rest  of  the  Old  Testament,  and 
which  prepare  the  way  for  the  mission  of  Christ  V 
Such  an  estimate  every  Christian  who  thoughtfully 
studies  the  Old  Testament  will  eagerly  endorse. 


II. 

Passing  to  the  period  of  Mosaism,  we  touch  ground 
which  is  acknowledged  on  all  sides  to  be  compara- 
tively solid.  Even  those  critics  who  regard  the 
records  of  the  entire  pre-Mosaic  period  as  legendary, 
allow  that  the  exodus  of  Israel  from  Egypt  and  the 
personality  of  Moses  are  '  assured  historical  realities  V 
It  is  no  doubt  true  that  the  figure  of  Moses  himself 
is  drawn  in  the  light  of  a  much  later  age,  but  that 
which  made  him  the  most  conspicuous  creative  genius 
of  Hebrew  history  stands  out  with  luminous  clear- 
ness, namely,  the  fact  that  he  was  a  prophet,  a  man 
conscious  of  a  supernatural  call,  strengthened  and 
sustained  throughout  his  eventful  career  by  the  sense 

1  Jukes,  op.  tit.  p.  4. 

2  Girdlestone,   The  Foundations  of  the  Bible,  p.  155.     Cp.  Delitzsch, 
New  Commentary  on  Genesis,  vol.  i.  p.  56. 

3  Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  14. 

K  2 


132  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

of  divine  mission.  Indeed,  since  the  consolid.  ti  ^n 
of  Israel's  nationality  was  in  ever}7  sense  a  creative 
act,  it  cannot  be  adequately  explained  apart  frc  n 
the  appearance  of  a  personality  like  that  of  Moses  \ 
'  Nothing,'  says  Professor  Kittel,  '  is  less  likely  to 
arise  spontaneously  out  of  the  depths  of  a  peoples 
life  than  those  new  creations  which  make  epochs  :n 
the  history  of  religion  and  morals.  They  slumtxr 
there,  but  they  do  not  come  to  the  surface  until 
a  single  spirit,  of  whom  they  have  taken  entire 
possession,  finds  them  in  himself,  grasps  them,  under- 
stands and  proclaims  them,  and  thus  becomes  the 
religious  and  moral  hero,  the  prophet  of  his  peop' 
The  prophetic  activity  of  Moses  is  not  the  less  real 
because  it  is  rather  displayed  in  action  than  embodied 
in  writings.  The  results  of  his  activity,  which  are 
plainly  visible  in  the  subsequent  history,  show  thai 
his  work  was  a  work  of  God,  and  he  himself  a  com- 
missioned organ  of  Jehovah's  will  3. 

It  seems  to  be  most  probable  that  what  we  Cc.ll 
'  Mosaism  '  had  an  historical  basis  in  existing  religious 
beliefs,  that  there  already  prevailed  religious  ideas  and 
aspirations  to  which  Moses  could  appeal,  that  at  least 
in  some  inner  circle  of  the  Hebrew  clans  the  rudiments 
of  a  pure  and  simple  faith  had  been  cherished  since 
patriarchal  times.  Something,  too,  may  have  been 
owing  to  the  influence  of  Egyptian  culture,  with 
which,  according  to  tradition,  Moses  was  familiar, 

1  Bruce,  Apologetics,  p.  197,  makes  a  suggestive  remark  :  *  The  creation 
of  Israel,  like  the  creation  of  the  world,  may  have  been  a  much  more 
complicated  process  than  it  appears  in  the  sacred  page,  and  the  secular 
history  of  the  process,  if  it  could  be  written,  might  assume  a  very  different 
appearance  in  many  respects  to  the  biblical,  just  as  the  scientific  history 
of  the  physical  creation  differs  widely  from  that  given  in  the  first  chapter 
of  Genesis/ 

*  History  of  the  Hebrews ;  voL  L  p.  240.  Observe  that  Moses  is  referred  to 
as  a  *  prophet '  in  Num.  xii.  7 ;  Deut.  xviii.  15  foil,  xxxiv.  10 ;  Hos.  xii.  13. 
God  holds  converse  with  him  as  a  man  speaketh  iuith  his  friend,  Exod. 
xxxiii.  ii.  To  him  is  vouchsafed  the  manifestation  of  God's  character 
'  which  dominates  Israel's  history,'  Exod.  xxxiv.  6-8.  (Driver,  Sermons 
on  the  O.  T.  p.  128.)  Cp.  Wellhausen,  Prolegomena,  p.  399. 

3  Cp.  Riehm,  A  77.  Theologie,  pp.  54-56. 


in1,  IN  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  133 

though  it  is  on  the  whole  probable  that  the  influence 
of  Egypt  was  prejudicial  to  the  comparatively  pure 
frith  which  the  tribes  of  Israel  may  be  thought  to 
have  inherited  from  their  ancestors1. 

Further,  there  is  no  reason  a  priori  for  rejecting  the 
s  ipposition  that  Moses  borrowed  from  other  sources 
s  ich  religious  forms  or  institutions  as  he  judged  to 
be  suitable  vehicles  of  the  main  religious  thoughts 
that  formed  the  basis  of  his  system.  Nevertheless, 
his  work  was  that  of  an  originator.  Channing  has 
said  that  the  true  task  of  God's  ministers  is  '  to  give 
vitality  to  the  thought  of  God.'  Such  was  indeed  the 
aim  of  Moses.  He  has  been  sometimes  represented 
as  nothing  more  than  a  powerful  leader  or  social  re- 
former;  but  the  history  of  Hebrew  religion  shows  that 
he  was  a  prophet  indeed.  In  his  proclamation  of 
the  truth  that  Jehovah  was  Israel's  God,  and  that  He 
was  a  God  of  righteousness2,  was  contained  the  expan- 
sive germ  from  which  the  higher  faith  of  subsequent 
times  was  developed. 

When  we  turn  to  the  books  of  the  Pentateuch,  in 
which  the  historic  narratives  relating  to  Mosaism  are 
contained,  we  notice  at  once  that  they  do  not  profess 
to  be  complete.  The  greater  part  of  the  history  of 
this  period  is  contained  in  the  priestly  document,  but 
the  book  of  Deuteronomy  contains  a  retrospect  which 
is  in  all  probability  earlier  than  the  narrative  of  the 
priestly  writer.  It  is  a  striking  fact  that  the  Deutero- 
nomic  writer  is  silent  in  regard  to  those  very  subjects 
which  occupy  a  central  place  in  the  priestly  writing ; 
for  instance,  the  erection  of  the  tabernacle  and  the 


1  Riehm,  p.  53,  thinks  that  the  old  Semitic  worship  of  Jehovah  under 
the  symbol  of  a  bull  was  revived  under  Egyptian  influence.     He  also 
traces  to  Egypt  the  worship  of  satyrs,  Lev.  xvii.  7  (onw).    Cp.  Renan, 
Histoire,  £c.,  bk.  i.  ch.  n. 

2  Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  48.     Cp.  p.  5 5.     '  The  story  of  Israel's 
religion  opens  with  the  work  of  a  great  personality,  who  taught  his  people 
to  worship  one  God  only,  a  severe  but  just  deity,  demanding  from  the 
tribes  which  acknowledged  his  dominion  the  practice  of  the  simplest  rules 
of  civic  morality.' 


134  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

institution  of  its  worship l.  But  taking  the  narratives 
as  a  whole,  it  is  plain  that  they  do  not  aim  at  giving 
an  exhaustive  account  of  the  historical  facts.  The 
thirty-eight  years  of  wandering  in  the  wilderness  are 
passed  over  almost  in  silence,  while  other  incidents, 
which  must  have  occupied  considerable  spaces  of  time, 
are  compressed  or  grouped  together  in  cameo-like 
pictures.  There  are  indeed  many  phenomena  in  the 
Pentateuch  which  justify  Kuenen's  observation,  that 
'  in  the  memory  of  a  nation  the  events  of  a  series  of 
years  become  compressed  into  one  great  fact  and  are 
attached  to  one  great  name 2.'  Nothing  indeed  can 
be  more  natural  than  that  the  events  of  one  great 
crisis  in  a  nation's  history  should  become  encircled 
with  a  halo  of  sacred  tradition,  in  which  particular 
incidents  recede  into  the  background,  and  general 
features  and  principles  of  divine  action  emerge  and 
come  to  the  front.  The  all-important  fact  of  Jehovah's 
deliverance  and  guidance  of  His  chosen  people  seems 
to  live  in  the  religious  consciousness  of  the  Pentateuchal 
writers,  and  perhaps  somewhat  overpowers  or  dims 
their  interest  in  historical  details. 

Let  us  attempt  to  indicate  briefly  the  main  features 
of  the  narrative  which  deals  with  the  history  of  the 
exodus  and  the  wanderings  in  the  wilderness. 

o 

i.  First,  we  mark  the  general  tendency  of  the 
account,  to  represent  the  wonderful  deliverance  from 
Egypt  as  the  fundamental  fact  of  Israel's  national 
career.  The  leading  incidents  we  may  regard  as 
practically  certain:  Israel's  flight  from  Egypt,  the 
passage  of  the  Red  Sea,  the  desert  journey,  the 
conflict  with  Amalek,  the  delivery  of  a  law  at  Sinai 
embodying  some  definite  but  rudimentary  system  of 

1  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  inj.  C.  pp.  391-393. 

2  The  Religion  of  Israel,  vol.  i.  p.  135.     Observe  that  this  compression 
is  found  also  in  the  account  of  the  processes  of  creation   (see  Driver, 
Sermons  on  the  O.  T.  p.  173),  and  also  in  such  a  narrative  as  that  of  Joshua 
x.  foil.,  which  '  gathers  up  all  the  details  of  slow  conquest  and  local  struggle 
in  one  comprehensive  picture,  with  a  single  hero  in  the  foreground.'     See 
Joshua  xi.  18  (O.  T.  in  J.  C.  p.  131). 


m]  IN  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT 


135 


worship  and  polity,  the  long  sojourn  at  Kadesh,  the 
conquest  of  the  region  east  of  Jordan,  the  occupation 
and  gradual  appropriation  of  the  promised  land.  It 
is  in  regard  to  minor  points  that  the  evidence  is 
defective,  for  the  circumstantial  and  curiously  minute 
sketch  of  the  priestly  writer,  systematic,  detailed,  and 
precise  though  it  be,  cannot  for  reasons  already  in- 
dicated be  regarded  as  constituting  an  independent 
historical  authority l.  Thus  in  regard  to  the  nature  of 
the  'tent  of  meeting'  and  its  precise  position  in  the 
camp  there  is  a  conflict  of  evidence,  nor  is  it  ever 
likely  to  be  determined  to  what  extent  a  sacrificial 
cultus  was  actually  carried  on  in  the  wilderness.  The 
outstanding  fact,  however,  of  the  Mosaic  history  is 
contained  in  a  passage,  which  has  been  called  4  the 
gospel  of  the  exodus.'  Ye  have  seen  what  I  did  imto 
the  Egyptians,  and  how  I  bare  you  on  eagles  wings, 
and  brought  you  unto  myself.  Now  therefore,  if  ye 
will  obey  my  voice  indeed,  and  keep  my  covenant,  then 
ye  shall  be  a  peculiar  treasure  imto  me  above  all  people 2. 
The  exodus  implied  first  and  foremost  the  exaltation 
of  Israel's  God 3 ;  next,  it  marked  the  birth  of  a 
nation,  and  its  call  to  a  special  position  of  dependence 
on  its  deliverer.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Israel  is  my 
son,  even  my  firstborn  4.  The  new  title  corresponded 
to  a  unique  fact,  viz.  that  the  Hebrew  race  was 
adopted  by  Jehovah,  and  brought  into  a  peculiar 
relationship  to  Himself.  The  prophets  occasionally 
describe  God  as  the  creator  of  Israel*,  in  virtue 
of  those  mighty  redemptive  acts  by  which  Israel 
was  severed  from  Egypt  and  made  the  people  of 
divine  election.  In  this  display  of  condescending 
grace  Israel  recognized  the  God  of  its  fathers  as  the 


1  As  instances  of  P's  partiality  for  definite  and  precise  details  of  number, 
measure,  and  weight,  see  the  description  of  Noah's  ark  (Gen.  vi.  14  foil.), 
and   such  passages  as   Exod.  xxxviii.  24-31,  Num.  vii  and  xxxi.     See 
Driver,  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  O.  T.  pp.  118-122. 

2  Exod.  xix.  4,  5.  3  Exod.  xv.  I,  2.  4  Exod.  iv.  22. 
5  See  Isa.  xliii.  15. 


\ 


136  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

founder  of  its  nationality  l,  and  accordingly  it  is  with 
the  exodus  that  the  real  history  of  Israel  begins,  at 
least  in  the  view  of  the  earlier  prophets  2.  Then  for 
the  first  time  was  established  that  unique  relationship 
between  Jehovah  and  Israel  which  became  the  basis 
of  a  theocratic  polity ;  nor  can  we  wonder  that  pro- 
phetic and  priestly  writers  of  a  later  period  incor- 
porated in  the  Pentateuchal  picture  of  the  Mosaic  age 
an  account  of  those  fully-developed  theocratic  institu- 
tions, the  germinal  origin  of  which  could  be  traced  to 
Moses  himself.  For  the  primitive  ordinances  estab- 
lished at  the  period  of  the  exodus,  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Passover  with  its  accessories,  the  feast  of  Mazzoth 
and  the  sanctification  of  the  firstborn,  gradually  came 
to  be  regarded  as  symbols  of  Israel's  original  con- 
secration to  the  worship  and  service  of  Jehovah. 
Observe  the  month  of  A  bib,  says  the  writer  of 
Deuteronomy,  and  keep  the  passover  unto  the  Lord  thy 
God:  for  in  the  month  of  A  bib  the  Lord  thy  God 
brought  thee  forth  out  of  Egypt  by  night.  .  .  .  Thou 
shalt  eat  no  leavened  bread  with  it ;  seven  days  shalt 
thou  eat  unleavened  bread  therewith,  even  the  bread  of 
affliction ;  for  thou  earnest  forth  out  of  the  land 
of  Egypt  in  haste :  that  tho^c  mayest  remember  the  day 
when  thou  earnest  forth  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt  all 
the  days  of  thy  life 3.  To  this  corresponds  a  passage 
in  the  book  of  Exodus  :  By  strength  of  hand  the  Lord 
brought  us  oiit  from  Egypt,  from  the  house  of  bondage: 
and  it  came  to  pass  when  Pharaoh  wculd  hardly  let 
its  go,  that  the  Lord  slew  all  the  firstborn  in  the  land 
of  Egypt  .  .  .  therefore  I  sacrifice  to  the  Lord  all  that 
openeth  the  matrix,  being  males ;  but  all  the  firstborn 


1  Cp.  Amos  ii.  9  foil.,  iii.  I  ;  Hos.  ii.  15,  xi.  I,  xii.  9,  13,  xiii.  4  foil. 

2  Meinhold,/^^j-  und  das  A.  T.  p.  133,  observes  that  if  the  story  of 
Genesis  is  of  fundamental  importance,  it  is  difficult  to  explain  the  fact  that 
the  prophets  generally  regard  the  exodus  as  the  beginning  and  foundation 
of  Israel's  religion.     It  is  certain  that  Abraham  is  very  seldom  alluded  to 
by  pre-exilic  prophets  (Isa.  xxix.  22 ;  Jer.  xxxiii.  26.     Mic.  vii.  20  is  not 
certainly  pre-exilic.    See  Kirkpatrick,  The  Dcctrine  of  the  Prophets^  p.  230;. 

3  Deut.  xvi.  1-3. 


in]  IN  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT 


137 


of  my  children  I  redeem^.  We  know  how  the  events 
of  the  exodus  lived  in  the  memory  of  the  people. 
Again  and  again,  in  the  days  of  alarm  and  calamity, 
the  thoughts  of  the  faithful  reverted  to  that  signal 
manifestation  of  Jehovah's  beneficence  and  might. 
It  was  a  comprehensive  type  of  all  divine  salvation; 
it  constituted  a  sure  basis  of  the  loftiest  hopes ; 
it  rekindled  faith  even  when  it  seemed  to  be  over- 
whelmed by  the  disasters  of  later  history ;  it  was 
the  ground  of  the  most  passionate  appeals  :  Awake, 
awake,  put  on  strength,  O  arm  of  the  Lord  ;  awake,  as 
in  the  ancient  days,  in  the  generations  of  old.  A  rt  thou 
not  it  that  hath  ciU  Rahab  in  pieces,  and  pierced 
the  dragon-.  God  is  my  King  of  old,  working 
salvation  in  the  midst  of  the  earth.  Thou  didst  divide 
the  sea  by  thy  strength:  thou  brakest  the  heads  of  the 
dragons  in  the  water  s*.  I  will  meditate  of  all  thy 
work,  and  talk  of  thy  doings.  Thy  way,  O  God,  is  in 
the  sanctuary :  who  is  so  great  a  God  as  our  God  f 
Thou  art  the  God  that  doest  wonders:  thou  hast 
declared  thy  strength  among  the  people.  Thoit,  hast 
with  thine  arm  redeemed  thy  people,  the  sons  of  Jacob 
and  Joseph.  The  waters  saw  thee,  O  God,  the  waters 
saw  thee ;  they  were  afraid :  the  depths  also  were 
troubled^.  With  these  inspired  outbursts  may  be 
classed  the  wonderful  song  of  Moses,  which  is  inserted 
in  the  prophetic  narrative  of  the  exodus,  and  is  the 
most  exalted  expression  of  the  triumphant  feelings 
aroused  by  that  memorable  event 5.  The  exodus  was 
indeed  a  turning-point  not  merely  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  but  in  the  development  of  human  faith.  It 
not  only  gave  birth  to  a  nation,  but  was  the  starting- 
point  of  a  higher  religion.  Israel  saw  the  mighty  act 
which  Jehovah  performed  upon  the  Egyptians :  and  the 

1  Exod.  xiii.  14,  15.  2  Isa.  li.  9. 

3  Ps.  Ixxiv.  12,  13.  4  Ps.  Ixxvii.  12  foil. 

5  The  structure  of  the  song  is  examined  by  Kittel,  Hist,  of  the  Hebrews, 
vol.  i.  p.  225.  He  follows  Dillmann  in  distinguishing  between  a  shorter, 
older  form  contemporary  with  the  event,  and  the  enlarged  form,  '  which 
is  a  psalm  composed  according  to  the  rules  of  art '  and  belongs  to  a  later 
period.  Cp.  Driver,  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  O.  T.  p.  27. 


\ 


138  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

people  feared  Jehovah,  and  believed  in  Jehovah,  and  in 
Moses  his  servant J. 

2.  Another  principal  aim  of  the  Mosaic  narratives  of 
the  exodus  and  settlement  in  Canaan  appears  to  be 
that  of  bringing  into  clear  relief  the  character  and 
requirement  of  God.  The  very  programme  of  the 
new  religion  is  contained  in  the  sentence  prefixed  to 
the  Decalogue,  I  am  Jehovah,  thy  God;  while,  as  Riehm 
observes,  the  ideas  of  mercy  and  truth  as  elements  in 
the  character  of  God  seem  to  dominate  the  course  of 
the  entire  narrative 2.  Certainly  the  purport  of  the 
book  of  Exodus  is  on  the  one  hand  to  extol  the 
patience,  longsuffering,  and  condescension  of  Jehovah, 
and  on  the  other  to  give  prominence  to  His  moral 
requirement.  In  a  later  lecture  this  last  point  will 
be  more  particularly  considered.  It  is  only  necessary 
in  this  place  to  draw  attention  to  the  ethical  tendency 
of  Mosaism  as  illustrated  in  what  is  generally  reckoned 
to  be  the  earliest  legislation  :  the  Decalogue3  and  the 
so-called  '  Book  of  the  Covenant'  (Exod.  xxi-xxiii). 
Worthy  of  notice  is  the  comparative  silence  of  this 
legislation  on  points  of  ritual  and  ceremonial  ob- 
servance. The  characteristic  contribution  of  Moses 
to  the  religion  of  Israel  was  the  teaching  embodied 
in  the  Decalogue.  His  aim  was  to  foster  a  higher 
morality ;  '  the  distinctive  character  of  the  [Mosaic] 
religion,'  says  Prof.  Robertson  Smith,  *  appears  in 
the  laws  directed  against  polytheism  and  witchcraft, 
in  the  prominence  given  to  righteousness  and 
humanity  as  the  things  which  are  most  pleasing  to 
Jehovah  and  constitute  the  true  significance  of  such  an 
ordinance  as  the  Sabbath,  and,  above  all,  in  the  clear- 
ness with  which  the  lawr  holds  forth  the  truth  that 
Jehovah's  goodness  to  Israel  is  no  mere  natural 

1  Exod.  xiv.  31.     Cp.  Delitzsch,  O.  T.  History  of  Redemption,  §  23. 

2  Riehm,  A  77.  Theologie,  p.  63. 

3  There  are  difficulties  in  regard  to  the  *  Ten  Words '  arising  from  the 
fact  that  'in  ancient  Israel  there  were  two  opinions  as   to  what  those 
words  were'  (Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  in  /.  C.  p.  335).     The  question 
must  for  the  present  be  waived. 


in]  IN  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT 


139 


relation,  such  as  binds  Moab  to  Chemosh,  that  His 
favour  to  His  people  is  directed  by  moral  principles 
and  is  forfeited  by  moral  iniquity1.'  The  chief  object, 
however,  of  the  whole  Mosaic  narrative  seems  to  be 
that  of  emphasizing  the  significance  of  the  divine 
self-revelation  implied  in  Israel's  deliverance  from 
Egypt.  The  marvels  of  the  exodus,  like  some  of 
our  Lord's  miracles,  appear  to  have  been  intended 
to  arrest  attention,  and  to  rivet  Israel's  gaze,  as  it 
were,  upon  its  divine  teacher.  Jehovah  alone  did  lead 
him,  and  there  was  no  strange  god  with  him  2.  We 
have  already  noticed  that  each  of  the  first  five  com- 
mandments of  the  Decalogue  is  based  on  some  trait  of 
the  divine  character.  And  in  the  long  and  pathetic 
story  of  Jehovah's  forbearance  with  Israel's  stiff- 
necked  perverseness  and  perpetual  backsliding  we 
have  a  revelation  of  the  divine  nature  more  striking 
than  any  mere  display  of  omnipotence  could  possibly 
be.  Forty  years,  we  read,  suffered  he  their  manners, 
or,  possibly,  bare  he  them  as  a  nursing  father  in 
the  wilderness*.  Sternness  mingled  with  generosity, 
righteous  indignation  controlled  by  pitying  love, 
patience  as  of  a  father  with  a  fractious  child — these 
are  traits  which  lie  upon  the  surface  of  the  narrative. 
At  times  Jehovah  is  represented  as  weary — as  even 
longing  to  be  released  from  the  burden  of  Israel's 
folly,  ingratitude,  and  perverseness  4.  But  each  fresh 
rebellion  leads  to  a  new  manifestation  of  love. 
Throughout  the  narrative  '  we  behold/  says  Dr.  Bruce 5, 
*  a  manifestation  of  all  the  divine  attributes,  power, 
wisdom,  patience,  faithfulness,  unwearied  loving  care 
— not  a  momentary  manifestation  only,  but  one 
extending  over  a  lengthened  series  of  years,  supplying 
material  for  a  history  rich  in  pathetic  stirring  incident 
which  endures  for  ages,  an  imperishable  monument  to 
the  praise  of  Israel's  God.'  Who  can  fully  measure 

1  O.  T.  inj.  C.  p.  344.  2  Deut.  xxxii.  12.  3  Acts  xiii.  18. 

4  See  R.  W.  Dale,  The  Ten  Commandments,  p.  18. 

5  The  Chief  End  of  Revelation,  p.  108. 


\ 


140  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

the  significance  of  this  new  and  profound  idea  of  God 
—an  idea  which,  possibly  even  in  the  mind  of  Moses 
himself,  was  dim  and  vague,  but  which  to  the  faith  of 
his  prophetic  successors  became  distinct  and  clear  ? 
'  The  significance  of  that  struggle  for  a  new  conception 
of  God,'  observes  Prof.  Kittel,  'can  be  estimated  by 
any  one  who  possesses  two  qualifications.  He  must 
know  the  illusions  and  the  degrading  bondage  in 
which  the  people  of  Israel  were  held,  owing,  doubtless, 
to  their  view  of  God.  He  must  reflect  on  the  religious 
usages  of  western  Asia,  which  deeply  wounded  man's 
moral  sense  and  trampled  the  dignity  of  human  nature 
in  the  dust :  these,  with  their  bewildering  orgies,  he 
must  compare  with  the  spirit  of  the  religion  of  Moses. 
Nature-religion,  with  its  tendency  to  enslave  man,  to 
set  at  nought  his  natural  freedom  and  moral  dignity, 
could  not  but  rob  the  nations  in  ever-increasing 
measure  of  their  civilization  and  humanity.  By  his 
religion,  Moses  won  for  his  people  and  the  world  the 
road  to  freedom,  human  dignity,  and  the  development 
of  pure  humanity  V 

3.  A  third  aim  of  the  Mosaic  narrative,  regarded  as 
a  whole,  is  doubtless  to  depict  an  ideal  theocracy  or 
kingdom  of  God.  The  conception  of  a  theocracy 
may  have  been  only  dimly  present  to  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  newly  formed  nation2,  but  the  essential 
elements  of  such  a  conception  were  implicitly  con- 
tained in  the  belief  that  Israel  belonged  to  Jehovah, 
and  that  He  was  Israel's  God.  At  any  rate,  in  the 
view  of  the  Pentateuchal  writers,  prophetic  or  priestly, 
it  is  clear  that  Jehovah  is  the  king  of  His  elect  people, 
and  Moses  a  human  deputy  divinely  empowered  to 
act  as  mediator  between  Jehovah  and  His  subjects. 

1  Hist,  of  the  Hebrews,  vol.  i.  p.  251. 

2  Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures,  p.   105,  seems  to  speak  too  strongly 
when,  following  Wellhausen,  he  asserts  that  '  the  old  Israelite  has  no 
knowledge  of  his   nation's   peculiar  position   or  destiny.     The  idea  of 
a  theocracy  is   wanting.'     Riehm's  opinion   seems   the  more   probable 
(A  77.  Theologie,  p.  58) :  '  Der  Grundgedanke  des  Mosaismus  ist  nichts 
anderes  als  eine  Fortbildung  und  Naherbestirnmung  des  Bewusstseins  der 
Patriarchen  iiber  ihr  Angehorigkeitsverhaltniss  zu  dem  einen  wahren  Gott.' 


in]  IN  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  141 

Jehovah  is  represented  as  communicating  His  will 
through  organs  appointed  by  Himself.  The  ordinances 
of  the  Law  are  treated  as  His  express  commands  ;  even 
the  leadership  of  Israel's  armies  is  ascribed  to  Him1. 
Indeed,  the  narratives  were,  in  point  of  fact,  compiled 
and  edited  by  men  to  whom  the  thought  of  God's 
immediate  sovereignty  over  His  elect  people  was 
a  self-evident  truth,  and  to  whom,  consequently,  Israel's 
demand  for  an  earthly  king  appeared  to  be  a  rejection 
of  Jehovah2.  Certainly  this  idea  seems  to  pervade  . 
the  story  of  the  exodus  and  the  description  of  Moses'  / 
legislation.  Moses  was  the  vicegerent  of  Israel's  * 
unseen  ruler,  and  accordingly  to  his  express  authority 
are  ascribed  all  the  ordinances  and  institutions  in 
which  the  truth  of  Israel's  special  consecration  to 
Jehovah  was  visibly  embodied. 

The  question  naturally  arises  how  the  completed 
priestly  code  stands  related  to  the  Sinaitic  legislation. 
Roughly  speaking,  there  are  upwards  of  eighty 
chapters  in  the  Pentateuch  comprising  the  priestly 
law  as  it  actually  existed  in  a  developed  and  codified 
form  at  a  period  subsequent  to  the  return  of  the 
Jews  from  Babylon.  They  form  the  central  portion 
of  our  present  Pentateuch,  and  the  picture  they 
present  of  Israel's  institutions  embodies  an  ideal 
which  was  aimed  at  but  not  actually  attained  before 
the  exile.  The  fundamental  thought  which  inspires 
the  sketch  we  have  already  noticed,  viz.  the  idea  of 
Israel's  holiness  as  a  consecrated  community,  in  the 
midst  of  which  Jehovah  himself  dwells  as  lawgiver  , 
and  king.  Now  all  the  evidence  confirms  the  sup-  r 
position,  antecedently  probable,  that  the  legislation 
of  Moses  himself  was  primitive  and  simple  in  its 
features  and  confined  itself  to  the  regulation  of  the 
most  essential  points,  in  the  matter  of  cultus  probably 
adopting  some  traditional  usages  of  ancient  Semitic 
worship.  The  most  reasonable  view  is  that  in  the 
detailed  descriptions  of  the  tabernacle  and  the  sacri- 

1  Exod.  xiii  17.     Cp.  Judges  v.  23.  2  I  Sam.  viii.  7. 


142  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

ficial  ordinances  contained  in  the  priestly  code  we 
have  a  highly  idealized  sketch  of  institutions  which 
probably  existed  only  in  a  rudimentary  form  during 
the  wanderings  of  Israel  in  the  wilderness.  Thus, 
for  example,  the  simple  tent  of  Mosaic  days  known  to 
the  early  narratives  is  represented  as  an  elaborate 
and  costly  structure,  such  as  can  hardly  be  supposed 
to  have  existed  under  the  difficult  circumstances  of 
life  in  the  wilderness  l.  Nevertheless,  when  all  reser- 
\  vations  have  been  made,  it  cannot  be  fairly  denied 
^  that  in  germ  at  any  rate  the  idea  of  a  theocracy  was 
Mosaic,  and  that  the  first  legislation  was  based  on 
the  idea  of  Jehovah's  immediate  sovereignty.  It  is 
impossible  to  account  satisfactorily  for  the  collapse 
of  Canaanitish  civilization  before  the  advance  of  the 
invading  hosts  of  Israel,  except  on  the  supposition 
that  there  was  some  inspiring  idea  which  animated 
the  nation,  welded  it  into  unity,  and  stimulated  it  to 
extraordinary  efforts.  Such  an  idea  certainly  was  the 
kingship  of  Jehovah  ;  Israel  was  conscious  of  being 
under  the  immediate  rule  and  guidance  of  the  God 
who  had  promised  to  their  fathers  the  land  of  Canaan 
for  their  inheritance. 

4.  Once  more  the  typical  significance  of  the  Mosaic 
narratives  must  not  be  overlooked.  The  New  Testa- 
ment writers  habitually  refer  to  the  actual  experiences 
and  characteristic  institutions  of  the  church  in  the 
wilderness2  as  foreshadowing  the  mysteries  of  the 
spiritual  life  and  of  the  divine  kingdom  in  its  widest 
sense.  The  general  principles  of  redemption  as  they 
are  exhibited  in  the  fortunes  of  the  Church  and  in 
the  experience  of  its  individual  members,  the  great 
characteristic  conceptions  of  Christianity,  the  phraseo- 
logy and  imagery  of  the  New  Testament — all  these 
are  rooted  in  the  Pentateuch. 

1  Kittel,  Hist,  of  the  Hebrews,  vol.  i.  p.  238.     '  The  description  of  P 
corresponds  to  the  idea  which  people  in  later  times,  influenced  probably 
by   what   they   saw   of    the    continually   increasing   costliness    of    their 
sanctuaries,  formed  of  the  sacred  desert-tent  of  the  days  of  Moses.' 

2  Acts  vii.  38. 


m]  IN  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  143 

We  are  in  fact  justified  by  the  express  authority 
of  the  New  Testament  in  recognizing  the  symbolic 
character  of  the  Pentateuchal  history.  The  narratives, 
whether  prophetic  or  priestly,  come  from  the  hands  of 
men  who  loved  to  trace  in  history  the  action  of  eternal 
principles.  Israel's  deliverance  from  servitude,  its 
maintenance  in  the  wilderness  and  its  victory  over 
the  hostile  powers  of  heathendom  exemplified  fixed 
and  constant  laws  of  divine  action.  It  was  confidently 
expected  that  the  future  development  of  the  kingdom 
of  God  would  proceed  on  lines  already  laid  down, 
and  would  be  accompanied  by  conditions  closely 
parallel  to  those  which  the  nation  had  experienced  in 
its  youth.  Moses  was  regarded  as  bearing  a  figurative 
and  predictive  relation  to  a  prophet  greater  than  him- 
self, yet  to  come.  Again,  the  compilers  of  the  priestly 
law  belonged  to  a  period  when  men  were  becoming 
conscious  of  the  sacramental  character  of  the  ancient 
ceremonial  worship.  They  understood,  at  least  in  a 
measure,  that  the  sanctuary  and  sacrificial  system 
veiled  under  material  forms  spiritual  mysteries  here- 
after to  be  revealed  ;  that  outward  ceremonies,  objects, 
and  acts  embodied  the  thoughts  of  God  concerning 
salvation  and  His  kingdom.  It  was,  however,  only 
an  instructed  faith,  and  a  fully  developed  experience 
that  could  discern  in  the  Mosaic  system  the  shadow 
or  outline  sketch  of  heavenly  realities,  of  which  the 
Gospel  presents  a  complete  picture l.  The  signi- 
ficance of  the  Pentateuch  for  Christians  lies  in  the 
fact  that  the  fundamental  conceptions  which  pervade 
each  Testament  are  the  same :  the  redemptive  action 
of  Almighty  God ;  the  separation  from  an  evil  world 
of  a  people  brought  by  grace  into  covenant-relation- 
ship with  its  divine  King  and  consecrated  to  His 
service ;  the  foundation  of  a  kingdom  of  God  upon 
earth  ;  the  setting  up  of  His  tabernacle  among  men 

]  See  Heb.  x.  i.  Cp.  Ambrose  in  psalm,  xxxviii.  25  :  '  Umbra  in  lege, 
imago  vero  in  evangelio,  veritas  in  caelestibus.'  The  quotation  is  given  by 
Willis,  Worship  of  the  Old  Covenant,  p.  14. 


144  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

and  the  building  of  a  city  which  bears  the  title,  The 
Lord  is  there l. 

Enough  has  been  now  said  to  indicate  that  in  the 
Pentateuch  we  are  not  dealing  with  history  in  the 
ordinary  sense  of  that  term,  but  with  an  idealized 
and  partly  prophetic  picture,  the  principal  purpose  of 
which  is  to  convey  certain  religious  thoughts  and  ideas 
which  beyond  doubt  formed  the  permanent  basis  of 
Judaism.  This  is  the  positive  point  on  which  it  is 
needful  to  insist.  The  possibility  of  wide  differences 
of  view  in  regard  to  the  intrinsic  character  and  value 
of  the  Pentateuchal  narratives  must  be  frankly  recog- 
nized. It  is  only  necessary  to  make  two  concluding 
observations.  First,  to  question  the  strict  historical 
accuracy  of  the  Mosaic  story  involves  no  denial  of  its 
inspiration.  Whatever  be  the  nature  of  the  narratives, 
they  have  unquestionably  been  selected  by  the  wisdom 
of  the  divine  Spirit  as  the  vehicles  of  spiritual  truth 
best  adapted  to  human  needs  and  capacities.  Secondly, 
there  is  every  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Pentateuch, 
whatever  be  the  date  of  its  final  compilation,  is  based 
on  genuine  historical  traditions  and  embodies  in  their 
developed  form  very  ancient  institutions  and  usages. 
It  seems  not  improbable  that  the  prophet  Ezekiel  led 
the  way  in  reducing  to  theory  and  formulating  the  tra- 
ditional usage  of  the  pre-exilic  sanctuary,  and  that  he 
thus  practically  became  the  founder  of  a  school  which 
devoted  itself  to  the  task  of  codifying  the  priestly  ordi- 
nances and  regulations  2.  If,  however,  it  is  difficult  to 
determine  the  precise  antiquity  of  particular  elements  in 
the  Mosaic  system  of  worship,  it  is  possible,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  New  Testament,  to  comprehend  the 
typical  significance  of  the  system,  regarded  as  a  single 
complex  product  of  a  germ  planted  by  the  hand  of 

1  Ezek.  xlviii.  35.     Cp.  Riehm,  Einleitung  in  das  A.  T.  vol.  i.  pp.  362 
foll.^  especially  his  remark :  *  Die  in  einem  Institute  verkorperte  Idee  1st 
das  innere  Band  zwischen  dem  Typus  und  Antitypus.' 

2  Cp.  Wellhausen,  Sketch  of  the  History  of  Israel  and  Judah,  p.  131  ; 
Ryle,  The  Canon  of  the  O.  T.  p.  72. 


in]  IN  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  145 

Israel's    inspired    legislator   at  the  very  dawn  of  its 
history. 


III. 

In  passing  to  the  historical  books  and  prophecies, 
we  enter  upon  firm  historical  ground.  For  there  is 
little  reason  to  doubt  that  the  documents  which  form 
the  substratum  of  the  books  of  Samuel  and  Kings 
were  official  notices  of  political  events,  and  nearly 
contemporary  narratives,  some  of  which  may  reason- 
ably be  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  prophets 
like  Gad,  Nathan,  Iddo,  and  others.  These  books, 
then,  contain  very  ancient  materials,  although  the 
framework  is  unquestionably  due  to  later  editors. 
The  main  influence  that  can  be  detected  in  the  com- 
pilation is  that  of  the  book  of  Deuteronomy.  Writers 
of  the  Deuteronomic  school  seem  to  have  reduced 
the  books  of  Judges,  Samuel,  and  Kings  to  their 
present  form  between  the  death  of  Josiah  and  the 
exile.  The  books  did  not,  apparently,  *  escape  further 
additions  and  interpretations  in  the  post-exilic  period ; 
but  their  main  character,  the  framework  in  which  the 
facts  are  arranged,  and  the  uniform  lesson  they  are 
made  to  teach,  were  the  product  of  the  periods  im- 
mediately before,  and  either  during,  or  soon  after, 
the  exile  V 

What,  then,  are  the  general  features  of  these  books  ? 
In  the  first  place  they  are  compilations,  and  in  their 
work  the  compilers  seem  to  have  retained  consider- 
able freedom,  incorporating  their  authorities  as  they 
stood  with  but  few  changes,  arranging  the  material 
on  some  plan  of  their  own,  and  adding  comments 

1  Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures,  pp.  231,  232.  Cp.  Wellhausen,  Prole- 
gomena, ch.  vii.  The  book  of  Joshua  is  not  particularly  dealt  with 
because  it  is  closely  connected  both  by  its  subject-matter  and  its  literary 
structure  with  the  Pentateuch.  It  describes  the  closing  stage  of  the  move- 
ment that  began  with  the  exodus.  By  the  Jews,  however,  the  book  is 
classed  among  the  '  former  prophets.' 


146  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

here  and  there  in  order  to  bring  out  the  religious 
significance  of  the  facts  recorded  l.  They  would  not 
be  at  pains  to  harmonize  the  style  or  even  the  con- 
tents of  the  different  documents  employed,  the  truth 
being,  as  we  have  more  than  once  pointed  out,  that 
their  interest  in  fact  as  mere  fact  was  quite  subordinate 
to  the  religious  ideas  by  which  they  were  influenced. 
And  what  is  true  of  the  compilers  is  to  a  great  extent 
true  of  the  original  narrators.  Their  aim  was  to  draw 
out  the  moral  import  of  what  they  related,  and  in  depict- 
ing the  more  prominent  figures  of  their  story,  they 
were  occasionally  apt  to  ascribe  their  own  beliefs  and 
modes  of  thought  to  their  hero  2. 

Another  point  that  strikes  us  in  reading  these 
books  is  the  uniformity  of  tone  displayed  by  the  com- 
pilers. It  is  evident  that  they  represent  the  views  of 
a  particular  prophetic  school,  possessed  by  the  con- 
viction that  the  capital  offence  of  Israel  throughout 
the  pre-exilic  history  had  been  perverted  worship  of 
J  ehovah  and  idolatrous  worship  of  other  deities.  Hence 
their  conception  of  the  past  is  uniformly  pessimistic. 
The  institution  of  monarchy,  which  seems  at  its 
first  foundation  to  have  been  hailed  with  such  hope 
and  rejoicing,  is  in  one  of  the  two  narratives  of  Saul's 
elevation  regarded  as  the  result  of  a  disastrous  apostasy 
from  Jehovah3;  and  though  after  the  establishment 
of  the  kingdom  the  reign  of  David  for  a  time  actually 
realized  the  ideal  hopes  of  the  nation,  yet  the  general 
course  of  Israel's  history  is  represented  by  these 
writers  as  one  long  and  continuous  declension  from 
the  religious  position  which  the  nation  occupied  at  the 
death  of  Moses 4. 

1  See  '  the  methods  of  oriental  historiography,'  well  described  in  Prof. 
Kirkpatrick's  Divine  Library  of  the  O.  T.  pp.  13-15.     He  observes  that 
'  this  compilatory  method  of  composition  brings  us  into  a  closer  contact 
with  th3  events  and  the   actors   than   any   other   method   of  historical 
writing  could  have  done.' 

2  Cp.  Cheyne,  Aids  to  the  Devout  Study  of  Criticism,  p.  26. 

3  i  Sam.  viii.  7.     Cp.  Driver,  Introduction  to  the  O.  T.  pp.  165  foil. 
Renan,  Histoire,  &c.,  bk.  ii.  ch.  14. 

4  Montefiore,  op.  cit.  pp.  232  foil. 


in]  IN  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT 


147 


A  somewhat  closer  study  will  reveal  to  us  a  leading 
tendency  in  each  book,  and  will  show  how  far  the 
historical  element  has  given  way  to  the  didactic 
purpose  of  the  writer.  The  book  of  Judges,  which 
seems  to  be  based  on  archaic  narratives  and  songs 
already  extant  in  oral  or  written  form,  describes 
the  period  of  disintegration  and  comparative  anarchy 
which  followed  the  death  of  Joshua.  There  are 
elements  of  hope  in  the  story,  an  upward  movement 
towards  the  monarchy1,  an  occasional  outburst  of 
fiery  zeal  for  the  honour  of  Jehovah2,  and  a  cer- 
tain pride  in  adhering  to  His  worship3.  Nor  does 
it  appear  that  the  state  of  morals  was  utterly  lax. 
The  phenomena  are  in  fact  such  as  might  be  looked 
for  in  a  young  and  robust  nationality  in  *  a  dark  age 
of  beginnings  V  But  the  period  was  certainly  one  of 
great  disorganization.  The  conflicts  described  are 
mostly  those  of  individual  tribes — a  fact  which  justi- 
fies the  inference  that  the  Judges  were  not  so  much 
rulers  of  the  whole  nation  as  tribal  heroes  or  cap- 
tains with  local  authority 5 :  probably  some  of  the 
judges  were  holding  office  simultaneously  in  their 
respective  tribes.  The  books  of  Samuel  describe 
the  origin  of  the  two  important  institutions  on  which 
the  future  progress  of  the  national  religion  mainly 
depended.  It  was  the  mission  of  Samuel  to  revive 
and  reorganize  the  functions  of  prophetism,  and  to  in- 
augurate the  monarchy.  Both  of  these  institutions 
served  the  common  purpose  of  impressing  upon  the 
nation  the  idea  of  Jehovah's  immediate  personal 
sovereignty,  and  of  quickening  the  consciousness  of 
Israel's  ideal  calling  and  destiny.  The  appointed 
task  of  the  prophets  was  that  of  keeping  alive  the 
light  of  the  Lord*  and  causing  it  perpetually  to 

1  Cp.  Wellhausen,  Prolegomena,  p.  235  ;  Bruce,  Apologetics,  p.  227. 

2  Judges  v.  13  foil.,  23  ;  viii.  4  foil. ;  xix.  29  foil. ;  xx.  I  ;  xxi.  10  foil. 

3  Judges  xvii.  7  foil. ;  xviii.  18. 

4  Bruce,  /.  c.     Cp.  the  account  in  Renan,  Histoire,  &c.,  bk.  ii.  ch.  7. 

5  Wellhausen,  pp.  233, 413.    Cp.  Meinholdj/^my  unddasA.  T.  p.  36. 

6  Isa.  ii.  5. 

L  2 


148  THE  HISTORICAL   ELEMENT  [LECT. 

beam  out  anew.  They  were  to  be  in  the  highest 
sense  *  the  watchmen  of  the  theocracy,'  *  the  con- 
science of  the  state/  the  occasional  organs  of  divine 
interposition  in  the  national  history.  The  begin- 
nings of  prophetism  have  been  rightly  called  a 
*  pentecostal  phenomenon '  in  the  Old  Testament. 
Though  its  origin  was  rude  and  chaotic,  prophetism 
was  destined  to  become  a  dominant  factor  in  the  pro- 
gress of  Hebrew  religion  l.  The  special  significance 
of  the  monarchy,  on  the  other  hand,  was  that  it 
habituated  the  nation  to  the  idea  of  a  human  deputy 
or  representative  sitting  upon  the  throne  which  pro- 
perly belonged  to  Jehovah  Himself2.  Its  institution 
was  the  starting-point  of  the  Messianic  expectation 
in  its  stricter  sense.  And  there  are  indications 
that  the  pessimistic  view  of  the  monarchy  was  not 
commonly  held  before  the  exile.  It  is  neither  con- 
sistent, strictly  speaking,  with  the  solemn  significance 
attached  to  David's  reign,  nor  with  the  glowing 
language  of  the  prophets,  whose  ideal  hopes  centred 
in  a  prince  belonging  to  David's  house  3. 

The  books  of  Kings  trace  the  fortunes  of  the  kingdom 
down  to  the  period  of  its  dissolution,  a  noticeable 
feature  of  the  record  being  the  prominence  assigned 
to  prophets,  of  whom  Elijah  and  Elisha  are  the  chief. 
Where  the  historical  narratives  become  fragmentary  or 
defective,  we  are  able  to  supplement  them  by  means  of 
the  books  of  contemporary  prophets.  The  general 
impression  left  by  the  story  of  the  kingdom  is  one  of 
ever-deepening  gloom.  The  nation,  together  with  its 
kings,  continues  to  move  along  a  downward  path  ;  the 

1  See  Delitzsch,  O.  T.  History  of  Redemption,  §  35. 

2  i  Chron.  xxviii.  5  ;  xxix.  23.     Cp.  Schultz,  O.  T.  Theology,  i.  169. 

3  See  Wellhausen,  Prolegomena,   pp.   253,  254.     Riehm  observes  in 
A  77.  Theologie,  p.  253  :    '  Nach  dem  alteren,  dem  nationalen  Interesse 
mehr  Rechnung  tragenden  Bericht  (i  Sam.  ix-x.  16)  erscheint  das  Konig- 
tum  schon  als  eine  gottgewollte,  die  Freiheit,  Selbstandigkeit  und  Macht 
des  Gottesvolkes  bezweckende  (i  Sam.  ix.  16),  den  theokratischen  Orga- 
nismus  konsolidierende  und   kronende    Institution.'     The  same  general 
tone  of  comment  is  found  in  Gen.  xvii.  6, 16  ;  xxxv.  1 1,  and  in  the  prophecy 
of  Balaam  (Num.  xxiv.  7,  17). 


in]  IN  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT 


149 


heavy  task  of  the  prophets  is  to  announce  that  the 
theocracy  in  its  existing  state  is  inevitably  doomed. 
Such  is  the  character,  briefly  described,  of  the  writings 
included  in  *  former  prophets/ 

Of  the  later  books,  such  as  the  Chronicles,  I  need  here 
say  very  little.  No  one  would  place  this  work  on  a  level 
with  the  original  sources  from  which  it  derives  its 
material l.  The  peculiarity  of  the  chronicler  is  his  in- 
tense interest  in  the  sacred  forms  of  Jewish  religion  as 
they  existed  during  the  period  of  the  second  temple. 
His  work  has  been  well  described  as  *  a  great  historical 
theodicy  .  .  .  intended  to  further  and  to  strengthen  a 
religious  ideal  as  it  had  shaped  itself  in  the  author's 
mind  V  The  value  of  the  work  lies  chiefly  in  its  faithful 
portraiture  of  a  prevalent  mood,  or  temper  of  mind, 
which  marked  the  closing  centuries  of  Israel's  history3. 
Occasionally  no  doubt  the  writer  preserves  information 
drawn  from  trustworthy  ancient  sources.  But  in  one 
or  two  significant  allusions  to  a  Midrash*,  the  chronicler 
seems  to  indicate  the  standpoint  and  character  of  his 
own  work,  which  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  specimen  of 
Haggadah,  i.e. an  independent  and  imaginative  handling 
of  historic  tradition  for  purposes  of  popular  edification. 
It  is  enough  to  mention  by  way  of  illustration  the  writer's 
transformation  of  David  into  a  levitical  saint,  and  his 
tendency  to  judge  the  character  of  each  king  of  Judah 
by  the  standard  of  devotion  to  the  levitical  cultus  and 
ceremonial  law.  What  has  been  said  of  the  books  of 
Chronicles  applies  in  some  measure  to  those  of  Ezra 
and  Nehemiah,  since  these  works,  which  in  the  Jewish 
canon  form  a  single  book,  were  apparently  compiled 

1  '  There  is  an  end  to  historical  study  if  we  accept  the  later  account 
against  the   earlier'  (Robertson   Smith,  O.    T.   in  J.    C.  lect.  v).     The 
Chronicles  are  minutely  investigated  by  Wellhausen,  Prolegomena,  ch.  vi, 
and    Kuenen,  Religion  of  Israel,   ch.  x.     See  also  Kittel,  Hist,  of  the 
Hebrews,  ii.  229  foil. 

2  Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  448. 

3  Schultz,  O.  T.  Theology,  i.  407  ;  Kuenen,  /.  c.     The  date  of  the  books 
of  Chronicles  is  probably  between  300  and  250  B.C. 

4  2  Chron.  xiii.  22  ;  xxiv.  27.     Cp.  Wellhausen,  Prolegomena,  p.  227. 
Driver,  Introduction,  &c.,  pp.  497,  5°6  foil. 


150  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

by  the  author  of  the  Chronicles1.  Contemporary 
documents  no  doubt  form  the  basis  of  each,  but  their 
historical  value  is  somewhat  impaired  by  their  in- 
completeness and  by  the  lateness  of  their  compilation. 
It  is  not  necessary,  however,  to  consider  these  books 
particularly,  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  they 
find  a  place  not  among  the  historians  in  the  l  former 
prophets/  but  in  the  Hagiographa2.  With  regard  to 
the  three  last-mentioned  books,  our  only  concern  is 
to  disclaim  for  them  a  character  which  their  very 
position  in  the  canon  seems  to  contradict 3. 

We  are  now  free  to  reconsider  the  historical  books, 
properly  so  called,  the  books  of  Judges,  Samuel,  r  .id 
Kings,  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  their  true  importance 
and  value. 

We  perhaps  find  a  clue  to  the  real  character  of 
these  books  in  the  significant  circumstance  that  tra/i- 
tion  ascribed  the  authorship  of  them  to  prophets. 
Wellhausen  questions  the  opinion  that  the  Hebrev 
people  owed  its  historical  annals  to  the  labours  of 
the  prophets  4.  But  he  allows  that  they  '  shed  up  A\ 
the  tradition  their  peculiar  light,'  and  '  infused  into  it 
their  own  spirit/  In  any  case  these  books  are  clearly 
not  to  bo*  regarded  as  history  in  the  narrow  sense  of 
mere  chronicles  or  annals.  Their  historical  importance 
is  undeniably  great ;  taken  in  conjunction  with  the 
writings  of  contemporary  prophets,  where  these  are 
available,  and  with  the  evidence  of  inscriptions,  they 
enable  us  to  construct  a  fairly  complete  and  trust- 
worthy account  of  the  actual  course  of  events  during 
the  period  they  cover.  But  the  point  of  chief  im- 
portance is  that  their  very  title,  'former  prophets/ 

1  Robertson  Smith  thinks  the  Chronicles  originally  formed  one  book 
with  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  (O.  T.  in  J.  C.  p.  182).     Cp.  Ryle,  Canon  of  the 
O.  T.  p.  134. 

2  The  same  remark  applies  to  the  book  of  Esther,  the  historical  value 
of  which  is  a  matter  of  dispute.     See  Driver,  op.  cit.  p.  452.     It  was  with 
some  difficulty  admitted  to  the  canon  (Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  in  J.  C. 
pp.  1 83  foil.). 

3  Cp.  Ryle,  Canon  of  the  O.  T.  pp.  139-141. 

4  Prolegomena,  p.  293. 


m]  IN  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  151 

exempts  them  from  the  rigid  application  of  ordinary 
historical  canons.  They  contain  history  and  some- 
thing more.  They  record  events  in  the  light  of 
a  known  purpose  of  God,  and  consequently  do  not 
hesitate  to  interpret  what  they  relate,  in  order  to 
exhibit  the  leading  principles  of  the  divine  govern- 
ment, and  the  laws  which  control  the  development  of 
events  ].  Accordingly  our  task  is  to  estimate  the  truth 
and  validity  of  the  theory  which  guides  the  sacred 
historians  in  their  selection  of  incidents,  and  in  their 
comments  upon  character  and  upon  matters  of  fact 2. 

Now  the  leading  ideas  which  constitute  the  prophetic 
theory  of  Israel's  history,  and  which  give  a  character- 
istic complexion  to  the  historical  books,  would  seem 
to  be  mainly  three  :  (i)  the  reality  and  perpetuity  of 
Jehovah's  redemptive  grace ;  (2)  the  idea  that  Israel's 
e'  ection  implied  obligations  which  the  nation  constantly 
failed  to  discharge ;  (3)  the  uniformity  of  method 
exhibited  in  divine  deliverances. 

i.  One  leading  idea  of  the  narratives  is  the  reality 
or  divine  grace.  The  foreground  of  the  picture  is 
occupied  by  self -revelations  of  Jehovah  in  act  or 
prophecy :  displays  of  power  and  compassion  in  which 
His  undeserved  favour  towards  Israel  is  manifested. 

1  Riehm,  A  77.  Theologie,  pp.  209  foil. :  '  DerProphet  hat  dieVerhaltnisse 
und  Ereignisse  seiner  Zeit  in  das  Licht  des  gottlichen  Ratschlusses  zu 
stellen,  und  so  iiber  Bedeutung  und  Zweck  der  gottlichen  Fiihrungen 
Aufschluss  zu  geben.     (Jberhaupt  ist  er  Interpret  dessen  was  Gott  in  der 
thatsachlichen  Sprache  der  Geschichte  zu  seinem  Volke  redet,  weshalb 
auch  dieGeschichtschreibungzu  den prophetischen  Berufsaufgaben  gehort.' 

2  Bruce,  Apologetics,  p.  197.     The  function  of  the  prophetic  writers  was 
*  not  to  narrate  facts,  but  to  teach  the  right  point  of  view  for  reading  truly 
the  religious  significance  of  Israel's  whole  history.'     Cp.  Kittel,  Hist,  of 
the  Hebrews,  vol.  ii.  p.  5  :  '  We  recognize  [in .  the  historical  books]  the 
historical  standards  of  men  who  had  absorbed  the  ideas  of  the  prophets, 
and  who  regarded  the  national  past  from  a  purified  point  of  view  in  con- 
sequence of  Israel's  calamity.     It  is  not  so  much  history  as  a  philosophy 
of  history.     It  is  elucidation,  estimation,  adjustment  of  facts  from  the 
standpoint  of  subsequent  knowledge  of  the  consequences  and  goal  of  the 
historical  development,  rather  than  simple  narration  of  the  course  of  the 
events  themselves;    a  history  that  is  more  satisfactory  as  a  means  of 
religious  and  moral  improvement,  than  as  supplying  historical  knowledge 
about  the  original  course  of  events.'     See  also  Kuenen,  Hibbert  Lectures, 
pp.  72  foil. 


152  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

The  thought  of  divine  intervention  on  Israel's  behalf 
is  evidently  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  the  historians. 
It  forms  the  keynote  of  those  summary  reviews  of  the 
history  which  meet  us  at  different  points  in  the  narra- 
tive 1.  The  most  conspicuous  feature  of  the  past  had 
been  the  display  of  divine  lovingkindness  and  for- 
bearance. It  had  been  signally  manifested  in  the 
deliverance  from  Egypt,  in  the  protection  and  sus- 
tenance of  the  people  during  the  long  years  of 
pilgrimage  in  the  wilderness,  in  the  amazing  conquests 
both  on  the  east  and  west  of  Jordan,  and  in  the 
raising  up  of  strong  and  heroic  leaders  in  times  of 
national  pressure  and  distress. 

2.  But,  secondly,  in  close  connexion  with  repeated 
declarations  of  Jehovah's  grace  and  longsuffering,  we 
find  descriptions  of  critical  moments  at  which  Israel's 
own  relation  to  God  is  determined  or  manifested. 
The  Old  Testament  history  is  remarkable  in  this 
respect  especially — that  in  the  main  it  is  the  record 
of  a  series  of  crises.  Long  periods  are  passed  over 
in  silence,  e.  g.  the  thirty-eight  years  of  wilderness  life, 
the  seventy  years  of  exile.  Between  the  death  of 
Joshua  and  the  appearance  of  Samuel  a  period  of  con- 
siderable length,  possibly  nearly  three  centuries,  elapsed ; 
yet  how  brief  and  compressed  is  the  record  of  an  age 
in  regard  to  which  Kuenen  declares  that  it  *  is  of  the 
highest  importance  for  Israel's  entire  development 2.' 
How  much  that  might  have  filled  the  pages  of  a 
modern  manual  of  history  do  the  biblical  writers 
ignore :  the  slow  process  by  which  the  tribes  of  Israel 
passed  from  the  rough  habits  of  nomadic  life  to  the 
settled  ways  of  agriculturalists,  the  rise  and  growth 
of  the  trading  instinct  through  intercourse  with  the 
cities  of  Phoenicia,  the  religious  syncretism  which 
resulted  from  Israel's  self-identification  with  the  con- 
quered territory  3.  How  much  that  might  absorb  the 

1  Judges  ii.  6  foil.,  iii.  6  foil. ;  I  Sam.  xii.  7  foil. ;  2  Kings  xvii.  7-23,  34-41. 

2  The  Religion  of  Israel,  vol.  i.  p.  143. 

3  Cp.  Wellhausen,  Sketch  of  the  History  of  Israel  and  Judah,  p.  36  ;  cp. 
Kittel,  op.  cit.  vol.  ii.  pp.  93  foil. 


in]  IN   THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  153 

attention  of  a  student,  or  kindle  a  poet's  imagination1, 
is  passed  over.  The  record  is  essentially  a  religious 
history,  of  which  the  gist  is  practically  this  :  that  Israel 
as  a  nation  had  been  peculiarly  favoured  by  God,  that 
the  calamities  and  reverses  which  followed  the  settle- 
ment in  Canaan  were  due  to  national  shortcoming  and 
sin,  that  in  the  sorest  straits  deliverance  came  through 
some  human  instrument  specially  raised  up  by  Jehovah, 
and  that,  finally,  popular  expectation  was  directed  to- 
wards the  southern  tribe  of Judah,  as  if  the  imperative 
need  of  a  stable  monarchy  was  likely  to  be  supplied 
from  that  quarter2.  It  may  be  granted  that  the 
picture  of  this  period  is  somewhat  highly  coloured,  for 
Israel's  shortcomings  scarcely  seem  on  a  superficial 
survey  to  have  amounted  to  a  formal  or  visible  apos- 
tasy from  Jehovah  again  and  again  repeated,  as  the 
Deuteronomistic  passages  in  the  book  of  Judges  appa- 
rently suggest 3.  But  at  least  the  general  fact  of 
unfaithfulness  to  a  recognized  standard  of  worship  and 
morals  is  clear,  and  it  is  judged  from  the  standpoint  of 
Him  whose  thoughts  are  higher  than  our  thoughts. 
The  pure  worship  of  Jehovah  was  evidently  hindered 
or  tainted  by  the  spirit  of  religious  syncretism,  i.  e.  the 
corruption  of  the  Mosaic  cultus  by  the  admixture  of 
usages  and  symbols  borrowed  from  the  nature-worship 
of  Canaan  4.  The  manifest  elements  of  retrogression 
which  appeared  in  the  period  of  the  Judges  are  re- 
garded by  the  Deuteronomic  school  as  constituting 

1  One  naturally  thinks  of  Mr.  Keble's  beautiful  lines  in  The  Christian 
Year,  poem  for  the  third  Sunday  in  Lent. 

2  Observe  that  the  book  of  Judges  begins  with  an  oraele  implying  the 
promise  of  victory  to  Judah,  Judah  shall  go  up  (i.  2),  and  closes  with 
narratives  connected  with   Bethlehem  Judah,    designed    apparently  to 
illustrate  the  remark,  In  those  days  there  was  no  king  in  Israel  (xxi.  25). 
The  book  of  Ruth,  which  is  an  idyll  of  Bethlehem  and  gives  the  ancestry 
of  the  first  true  king,  forms  an  appendix  to  the  book  of  Judges.    Cp.  Riehm, 
Einleitungin  das  A.  T.  vol.  i.  p.  473  ;  Delitzsch,   O.  T.  History  of  Re- 
demption, §  33. 

8  Judges  ii.  11  foil.,  iii.  5  foil,  viii.  33,  x.  6  foil.  Cp.  Kittel,  vol.  ii.  p.  97. 
It  is  significant  that  in  the  resume'  of  Israel's  history  contained  in  Neh.  ix. 
7  foil,  the  same  salient  features  appear,  the  faithfulness  of  God  and  the 
faithlessness  of  His  people.  See  Tfantex,  After  the  Exile>  part  ii,  pp.  201  foil. 

4  Cp.  Oehler,  Theol.  of  the  O.  T.  §§  158,  159  ;  Kittel,  vol.  ii.  p.  98. 


154  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

formal  apostasy  to  heathen  gods ;  and  it  may  be 
contended  that,  from  an  idealistic  and  prophetic  point 
of  view,  the  representation  corresponds  with  the  facts. 
Israel  was  during  this  period  falling  short  of  better 
knowledge ;  from  the  earliest  times  the  spirit  of  un- 
faithfulness to  the  obligations  implied  in  Israel's 
special  relationship  to  God  did  manifest  itself  in 
the  national  life.  In  a  word,  the  picture  is  dark  and 
sombre,  but  we  have  every  reason  to  suppose  that 
in  essential  features  it  is  correct.  If,  as  we  have  no 
reason  to  doubt,  Israel  recognized  in  the  events  of  the 
exodus  its  special  vocation  to  be  the  people  of  Jehovah, 
if  this  had  been  the  burden  of  Moses'  teaching,  the 
point  of  view  from  which  the  compilers  of  the  historical 
books  contemplate  the  course  of  events  is  true ;  and 
it  may  be  remarked  that  it  is  common  to  these  writers 
with  the  great  prophets  of  the  eighth  and  following 
centuries,  notably  Amos,  Hosea,  and  Jeremiah  \  The 
same  general  line  of  thought  applies  to  the  view  which 
the  historical  writers  take  of  the  schismatic  cultus 
established  in  the  northern  kingdom  by  Jeroboam.  The 
theory  of  the  writers  and  of  the  prophets  is  that  the  pure 
and  imageless  worship  of  Jehovah  inculcated  by  Moses 
has  in  the  calf- worship  sunk  back  to  the  level  of  a  heathen 
cultiis.  That  it  represented  a  reactionary  movement 
can  scarcely  be  doubted,  and  it  is  equally  probable  that 
the  relative  purity  of  religious  praxis  in  Judah  was  due 
to  the  persistency  with  which  the  prophets  represented 
the  northern  cultus  in  its  true  character  2. 

3.  A  third  feature  of  the  historical  books  is  that 
they  dwell  with  peculiar  interest  upon  the  method  of 
the  divine  deliverances.  The  intention  of  the  narra- 
tives does  not  seem  to  be  that  of  glorifying  the  heroic 
figures  of  old  time,  but  rather  that  of  illustrating  the 
principles  on  which  Jehovah  acts  in  His  work  of 
salvation.  There  is  little  or  no  attempt  to  idealize  the 

1  See  Robertson,  The  Early  Religion  of  Israel  (Baird  Lecture  for  1889), 
ch.  v. 

2  Cp.  Riehm,  ^477.  Theologie,  p.  195. 


in]  IN  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  155 

character  of  the  Judges,  or  of  Samuel,  or  even  of 
prophets  like  Elijah.  The  period  of  the  Judges  was 
no  doubt '  an  age  of  contradictions  V  like  other  periods 
of  religious  transition  which  are  apt  to  witness  a  certain 
relaxation  of  moral  principles  and  disintegration  of 
beliefs  ;  and  the  figures  that  appear  in  the  forefront 
of  the  history  reflect  the  tendencies  of  the  time  :  its 
hold  upon  certain  fundamental  religious  truths  and 
its  laxity  in  religious  practice,  its  capacity  for  wild 
moral  excesses  combined  with  '  a  certain  robustness  of 
conscience2.'  In  this  point  the  narratives  are  life-like 
and  consistent,  but  the  main  truths  which  the  historians 
bring  into  prominence  are — first,  that  the  saviours  sent 
by  Jehovah  are  men  directly  empowered  by  His  Spirit ; 
secondly,  that  it  is  His  habit  to  select  lowly  and  despised 
instruments  in  the  execution  of  His  redemptive  purpose. 
Thus  the  exploit  of  Gideon  is  always  regarded  in  the  Old 
Testament  as  a  typical  deliverance  ;  the  day  of  Midian 
becomes  indeed  a  kind  of  proverbial  expression  in  later 
prophecy 3.  The  choice  of  Saul,  from  the  least  of  all  the 
families  of  the  smallest  of  the  tribes  of  Israel^,  is  another 
illustration  of  the  same  principle,  while  the  career  of 
David  derives  its  special  significance  from  the  lowliness 
of  his  origin.  He  chose  David  also  his  servant,  and  look 
him  away  from  the  sheepfolds.  As  he  was  following  the 
ewes  great  with  yoiing  ones  he  took  him :  that  he  might 
feed  Jacob  his  people,  and  Israel  his  inheritance 5. 

In  their  conception,  then,  of  the  period  embraced  in 
the  historical  books,  the  writers  cannot  be  fairly  regarded 
as  mistaken.  In  its  estimate  of  the  pre-prophetic  period 
modern  criticism  does  not  always  make  due  allowance 
for  the  factor  which  imparted  to  Israel's  history, 
throughout  its  course,  a  unique  significance — the  factor 
which  we  call  *  Inspiration.'  The  '  Song  of  Deborah/ 
for  example,  which  seems  to  be  contemporary  with  the 

1  Schultz,  O.  T.  Theology,  i.  1 50. 

2  Bruce,  Apologetics,   p.  227.     The  book  of  Ruth   forms  a  valuable 
counterpart  to  the  stormy  scenes  of  Judges. 

3  Judges  vi.  15  ;  vii.  2.     Cp.  Isa.  ix.  4  foil.;  x.  26  ;  Ps.  Ixxxiii.  10  foil. 

4  I  Sam.  ix.  21.  5  Ps.  Ixxviii.  70,71. 


156  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

events  described  in  it,  clearly  proves  that  the  age  of  the 
Judges  was  not  merely  one  of  rude  prowess  and  war- 
like adventure,  but  that,  at  least  among  the  leaders  of 
the  nation,  there  existed  conceptions  of  Jehovah  which 
could  not  fail  to  be  a  motive  force  in  religious  develop- 
ment, and  a  certain  sense  of  consecration  which 
inspired  conspicuous  acts  of  heroic  valour.  The  action 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  upon  men  was  a  fact  which  alone 
sufficed  to  explain  the  greatness  of  their  achieve- 
ments '.  It  was  a  power  very  dimly  understood,  but 
recognized  as  working  in  and  through  human  instru- 
ments on  behalf  of  God's  purpose  of  salvation  2.  This 
continuous  operation  of  the  divine  Spirit  forms  part  of 
that  ideal  element  in  Israel's  history  which  is  plainly 
reflected  in  the  prophetic  narratives.  Moreover,  sup- 
posed inconsistencies  are  softened  or  removed  if  we 
remember  to  draw  necessary  distinctions  between  the 
religious  leaders  of  Israel  and  the  mass  of  the  people  ; 
between  the  fundamental  Mosaic  beliefs  cherished  in 
religious  centres  like  Shiloh,  and  the  general  level  of 
culture,  morality,  and  worship  exhibited  by  the  nation 
as  a  whole 3. 

On  a  survey  of  the  ground  we  have  traversed,  it 
appears  that  there  are  good  reasons  for  believing  that 
the  inspired  writers  give  a  presentation  of  the  facts 
which  is  not  primarily  historical,  but  prophetic,  their 

1  Cp.  Judges  iii.  10  ;  vi.  34  ;  xi.  29  ;  xiii.  25  ;  xiv.  6,  19  ;  xv.  14  ;  I  Sam. 
x.  6,  10 ;  xvi.  13. 

2  Cp.  Schultz,  vol.  ii.  pp.  204  foil. ;  Robertson,  op.  cit.  pp.  118  foil. 

8  Some  such  distinction  is  recognized  as  '  a  fair  inference  from  the  Song 
of  Deborah'  by  Cheyne,  Aids  to  the  Devout  Study  of  Criticism,  p.  31. 
Cp.  Driver,  Serm.  on  the  O.  T.  p.  138:  'Throughout  their  history  the 
people  are  represented  as  needing  to  be  taught  by  others,  as  declining 
from  truth  by  which  they  ought  to  have  been  guided,  as  falling  short  of 
the  ideal  propounded  to  them.  The  natural  tendencies  of  the  nation  did 
not  move  in  the  direction  of  spiritual  religion.  There  is  no  ground  to 
suppose  that,  apart  from  the  special  illumination  vouchsafed  to  the  great 
teachers  who  originated  or  sustained  the  principles  of  its  faith,  the  reli- 
gious history  of  Israel  would  have  differed  materially  from  that  of  the 
kindred  nations  by  which  it  was  surrounded.'  There  were,  in  point  of 
fact,  repeated  occasions  when  the  Israel  of  the  Spirit  found  its  almost 
solitaiy  representative  in  a  single  prophet. 


m]  IN  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  157 

main  design  being  that  of  religious  edification.  It 
follows  that  we  can  await  with  equanimity  the  verdict 
of  criticism  in  regard  to  the  exact  historical  worth  of 
the  narrative.  That  there  is  a  great  regard  for  certain 
outstanding  facts  of  the  history  is  unquestionable,  but 
the  facts  are  often  coloured  by  high  imaginative  power, 
and  are  estimated  according  to  moral  significance.  In 
regard  to  minor  details  there  is  ample  room  for  diver- 
sity of  opinion.  To  take  two  passing  illustrations.  The 
religious  lessons  of  Samson's  history  are  not  materially 
affected  by  any  particular  view  respecting  the  precise 
character  of  the  narrative  which  describes  his  career1. 
The  portrait  of  David  is  not  the  less  a  treasure  for 
all  time  because  to  a  great  extent  it  is  idealized  by 
devout  writers  of  a  later  age 2.  The  important  ques- 
tion is  whether,  in  their  interpretation  of  Israel's 
history,  the  prophetic  writers  of  the  Old  Testament 
are  fundamentally  wrong.  We  have  found  reasons 
for  supposing  that  in  its  general  point  of  view  'the 
prophetic  philosophy  of  history '  is  true,  and  we  may 
accept  the  cautious  summary  of  Prof.  Robertson  as 
fairly  stating  our  conclusions.  '  The  great  events,' 
he  says,  '  of  Israel's  history,  the  turning-points,  the 
points  determinative  of  the  whole  life  and  history,  are 
attested  by  the  nation  at  the  earliest  time  at  which  we 
are  enabled  to  look  for  materials  on  which  an  opinion 
can  be  based.  No  reason  can  be  given  for  the 
invention  of  them  just  at  this  time,  or  for  the  signifi- 
cance which  the  prophets  assign  to  them.  It  may  be 
that  a  fond  memory  invested  with  a  halo  of  glory  the 
great  fathers  of  the  race  ;  it  may  also  be  that  a  simple 
piety  saw  wonders  where  a  modern  age  would  see 

1  As  is  well  known,  there  is  a  view  that  the  story  of  Samson  originates 
in  a  solar  myth  (^0^=*  Sun-man.'  See  Kuenen,  Religion  of  Israel 
"Eng.  Tr.],  vol.  i.  p.  307).  It  is  far  more  probable  that  Samson  was  an  actual 
lero  of  the  tribe  of  Dan,  around  whose  name  a  certain  '  mushroom- 
Towth  of  legend'  gradually  gathered,  intermingled  possibly  with  some 
foreign  elements.  See  Kittel,  Hist,  of  the  Hebrews,  vol.  ii.  pp.  91,  92. 
f  2  See  Cheyne,  Aids  to  the  Devout  Study  of  Criticism,  part  i,  on  the 
D  avid-narratives. 


158  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT  [LECT. 

none.  Yet  the  individuality  of  the  characters  is  not 
destroyed,  nor  are  the  sequence  of  events  and  the 
delineations  of  character  shown  to  be  the  work  of 
a  fitful  and  unbridled  imagination  V 

It  is,  on  the  whole,  sufficiently  clear  that  the  aim 
of  the  historical  writers  of  the  Old  Testament  was  to 
bring  out  the  religious  significance  of  Israel's  history. 
They  interpret  events  in  accordance  with  their  stead- 
fast belief  in  Jehovah's  original  election  of  Israel. 
This  idea  of  election  was  one  of  which  the  nation  as 
a  whole  probably  became  conscious  very  gradually. 
But  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  even  in  the  earliest 
period  there  were  men  of  prophetic  spirit  who  dis- 
cerned the  drift  and  tendency  of  God's  dealings  with 
their  race.  An  English  historian  has  pointed  out  the 
effect  on  our  nation  of  the  destruction  of  the  Armada. 
*  The  pride  of  the  conquerors,'  says  Mr.  Green,  '  was 
hushed  before  their  sense  of  a  mighty  deliverance.  .  . 
The  victory  over  the  Armada,  the  deliverance  from 
Spain,  the  rolling  away  of  the  terror  which  had  hung 
like  a  cloud  over  the  hopes  of  the  new  people,  was 
like  a  passing  from  death  unto  life  V  It  is  not  too 
much  to  claim  that  such  an  event  as  the  exodus,  im- 
pressed as  it  had  been  on  the  national  memory, 
profoundly  affected  the  point  of  view  from  which  the 
whole  subsequent  history  was  studied.  Here,  I  think, 
we  have  the  very  heart  of  the  matter.  Some  critics 
think  that  the  general  scheme  of  biblical  history  is  an 
after-thought  leading  to  *  a  systematic  representation 
of  earlier  events  in  the  light  of  much  later  times  3 ' ; 
but  the  point  to  be  observed  is  that  the  early  history 
itself  suggested  the  ideas  by  which  all  the  subsequent 
development  was  interpreted.  The  Hebrew  mind  was 
not  what  the  modern  mind  sometimes  is,  intensely 
matter  of  fact,  and  consequently  it  did  not  set  the 

1  The  Early  Religion  of  Israel,  p.  135.     It  is  worth  while  drawing  special 
attention  to  the  retrospect  of  Israel's  history  in  the  book  of  Judith  (ch.  v. 
6-19)  as  a  main  outline  of  historical  facts. 

2  History  of  the  English  People,  vol.  ii.  pp.  446-447. 

3  See  Robertson,  op.  tit.  p.  30. 


m]  IN  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  159 

same  exaggerated  store  on  mere  outward  fact  as  if  it 
were  synonymous  with  the  essential  truth  of  things. 
In  his  Studies  in  Judaism,  Mr.  Schechter  makes  the 
suggestive  remark  that  Judaism  ever  'bowed  before 
truth,  but  it  had  never  made  a  covenant  with  facts 
only  because  they  were  facts.  History  had  to  be  re- 
made and  to  sanctify  itself  before  it  found  its  way 
into  its  sacred  annals  V  The  Jew  looked  at  historical 
events  as  manifestations  of  that  which  he  deemed  to 
be  of  infinitely  higher  interest,  viz.  the  purposes  and 
character  of  God.  And  while  we  may  admit  the 
defectiveness  of  the  historical  writings  if  judged  by 
modern  standards,  it  is  a  fair  question  whether  this 
point  of  view  was  that  of  the  sacred  writers  them- 
selves, and  whether  it  is  of  the  supreme  importance 
which  the  scientifically  trained  mind  is  apt  to  assume. 

The  fact  is  that  these  narratives  which  historical 
criticism  analyzes  so  minutely  are  lifted  by  the  touch  of 
divine  insight  displayed  in  them  to  a  level  higher  than 
that  on  which  the  scientific  faculty  moves.  The  Old 
Testament  records  the  history  of  the  people  of  God 
as  it  unfolds  itself  before  the  eyes  of  Him  who  sits 
upon  the  throne  of  heaven  judging  the  deeds  and  lives 
of  men  according  to  truth*.  We  who  believe  that 
Scripture  is  divine  as  well  as  human  are  prepared  to 
find  anticipated  in  it  that  awful  reversal  of  human  judg- 
ment and  of  the  earthly  estimate  of  things  for  which  we 
look  hereafter  in  the  day  when  God  shall  judge  the 
secrets  of  men  by  Jesiis  Christ 3. 

1  Introd.  p.  xxv.  Prof.  Ramsay,  in  his  striking  vindication  of  St.  Luke's 
genius  as  an  historian,  observes  that  '  Historical  truth  implies  not  merely 
truth  in  each  detail,  but  also  truth  in  the  general  effect,  and  that  kind  of 
truth  cannot  be  attained  without  selection,  grouping,  and  idealization' 
(St.  Paul  the  traveller  and  the  Roman  citizen,  p.  4).     See  also  Bruce, 
With  open  face,  ch.  iii.  ('  The  idealized  picture  of  Luke  '). 

2  Rom.  ii.  2. 

8  Rom.  ii.  16.  See  Mozley's  sermon  on  'The  reversal  of  human  judg- 
ment '  ( University  Sermons,  no.  iv).  Bp.  Wordsworth  makes  a  sugges- 
tive remark  in  reference  to  the  thirty-eight  years  of  Israel's  wandering  in 
the  wilderness  :  'We  know  that  the  people  existed.  .  . .  They  themselves 
have  no  history.  Their  names  are  written  in  water ;  they  have  no  place 
in  the  annals  of  heaven '  ( The  Holy  Bible  with  commentary,  Introd.  to 
Genesis  and  Exodus,  p.  xxxi). 


i6o  THE  HISTORICAL  ELEMENT,  ETC. 


NOTE  A. 

ON  the  patriarchal  narratives  Prof.  G.  A.  Smith  says  (op.  cit. 
p.  49),  '  If  we  will  go  to  the  characters  of  the  O.  T.  as  they 
are,  and  treat  them,  not  as  our  dead  prey,  but  as  our  masters 
and  brothers,  whom  it  is  our  duty  to  study  with  patience  and 
meekness,  there  is  almost  no  end  to  the  real  benefit  they  shall 
do  us.  The  careful  study  of  the  original  narrative,  the  study 
of  the  history  of  the  times/ the  study  of  the  contemporary 
monuments,  which  of  late  are  being  discovered  in  such  large 
numbers,  reveal  to  us  that  these  characters  are  neither  the  lay 
figures  nor  the  mere  symbols  of  doctrine  which  they  are  often 
represented  to  be  by  a  certain  kind  of  preaching,  nor,  on  the 
other  hand,  can  they  be  only  mythical  heroes — incarnations  of 
a  tribe  or  reflections  of  natural  phenomena — to  which  some 
mistaken  schools  of  criticism  think  to  reduce  them.  There  is 
a  vividness,  a  moral  reality,  about  nearly  all  of  them  ;  and 
although  they  rise  amid  circumstances  that  we  cannot  always 
explain,  and  are  sometimes  surrounded  by  miracles  to  which 
our  conscience  does  not  always  respond — through  all  this 
they  stalk  unhindered,  real  characters  with  life  and  way  upon 
them.'  A  reader  of  Renan's  Histoire  du  peiiple  d' Israel, 
bk.  i,  will,  I  think,  derive  from  it  a  very  strong  impression 
of  the  general  truth  of  the  patriarchal  story. 


LECTURE   IV 

And  God  spake  all  these  words,  saying,  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  which 
have  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage. 
Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me. — Exod.  xx.  I  foil. 

WE  have  considered  the  Old  Testament  in  its 
historical  aspect  as  the  record  of  a  divine  movement 
towards  the  human  race,  which  formed  the  starting- 
point  of  a  higher  religion ;  and  we  have  attempted  to 
estimate  the  character  and  value  of  this  record,  regarded 
as  a  collection  of  historical  documents.  It  is  now  our 
task  to  survey  the  Old  Testament  as  the  account  of 
a  progressive  self-revelation  of  God. 

The  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  opens  his 
letter  with  the  words  0eds  6  AdA^o-ay,  and  it  may  be 
observed  how  closely  such  an  exordium  corresponds 
with  the  apparent  object  of  the  writer  in  keeping 
himself  anonymous.  To  this  great  Christian  apologist 
God  is  the  one  speaker  in  revelation.  Human  agency 
falls  entirely  into  the  background.  Throughout  re- 
demptive history  a  single  voice,  the  voice  of  God,  was 
making  itself  heard,  speaking  by  the  prophets  in  divers 
portions  and  in  divers  manners;  and  the  highest 
function  of  the  Scriptures,  whether  of  the  Old  or  New 
Testament,  is  to  transmit  from  age  to  age  the  record 
of  that  continuous  utterance.  God  spake.  Revelation 
had  its  several  parts,  stages,  chapters  or  acts.  The 
whole  could  only  be  judged  retrospectively  in  the  light 
of  the  final  result.  The  key  to  the  meaning  of  the 
voice,  which  spake  to  the  fathers  by  the  prophets,  was 
the  Word  made  flesh.  It  was  the  divine  message  to 

M 


162     PROGRESSIVE  SELF. REVELATION  OF  GOD    [LECT. 

man  contained  in  the  life  and  labours,  the  death  and 
glorification,  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  illuminated  and  in- 
terpreted the  method  of  divine  action  in  the  past.  The 
Incarnation  enables  us  to  distinguish  what  is  frag- 
mentary and  provisional  in  revelation  from  what  is 
complete  and  final.  The  divers  modes  of  divine  self- 
communication  were  adapted  to  the  existing  needs  and 
capacities  of  human  nature  at  each  particular  stage  of 
its  development.  In  visions  and  dreams,  in  types  and 
symbols,  in  precepts  and  ordinances,  in  voices  and 
prophecies,  in  the  unmistakeable  language  of  outward 
fact  and  in  secret  communications  to  elect  souls,  God 
spake  to  mankind.  Revelation  is  one  because  its 
Author  is  one,  and  we  approach  the  Scriptures  with 
this  end  in  view  above  all  others — that  we  may  know 
God :  what  He  is  in  Himself,  what  He  has  wrought 
in  history,  what  are  His  thoughts  for  human  nature, 
and  what  His  purposes  for  the  universe.  In  Scripture 
the  word  of  God  comes  to  us  through  the  medium  of 
human  language  ;  but  it  is  the  very  mind  of  God  which 
unveils  itself  therein,  teaching  us  how  to  live  according 
to  His  will,  and  revealing  to  us  what  in  His  eternal 
being  and  character  He  is. 

In  this  lecture  I  wish  to  consider,  first,  the  pro- 
gressiveness  of  the  divine  self-revelation,  and  secondly, 
its  content.  We  must  glance  at  the  spiritual  education 
of  man  described  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  we  must 
examine  the  import  of  the  successive  names  or  desig- 
nations by  which  Almighty  God  condescended  to  make 
Himself  known  to  His  creatures. 

I. 

The  idea  of  progressive  revelation  has  profoundly 
influenced  all  modern  attempts  to  reconstruct  the 
history  of  Hebrew  religion  1.  It  has  been  the  legiti- 
mate and  necessary  outcome  of  applying  to  the  Old 
Testament  those  historical  or  comparative  methods  of 

1  Cp.  Oettli,  Der gegenivartige  Kampf,  &c.,  p.  II. 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD        163 

study  which  have  proved  so  fruitful  in  other  fields 
of  knowledge  and  were  themselves  suggested,  or  at 
least  encouraged,  by  the  recognition  of  the  evolutionary 
principle  in  nature.  The  modern  habit  of  mind  is  to 
study  institutions,  social  phenomena,  opinions,  literature, 
creeds,  in  the  light  of  their  development.  We  delight 
in  the  observation  of  growth  or  process,  and  there  is 
perhaps  no  department  in  which  study  based  upon  this 
method  has  been  more  serviceable  than  in  that  of 
Christian  apologetics.  It  has  assisted  us  to  estimate 
aright  the  inevitable  defects  of  early  morality  and 
religion.  It  has  enabled  us  to  form  a  true  judgment 
of  the  divine  dealings  with  mankind  during  the 
primitive  stages  of  its  spiritual  development.  It  has, 
we  may  say  with  reverence,  vindicated  the  character 
of  Almighty  God  by  imparting  the  necessary  point  of 
view  from  which  His  recorded  commands,  require- 
ments, and  modes  of  action  should  be  regarded.  It  has 
opened  our  eyes  to  the  infinite  wisdom,  tenderness, 
and  patience  of  the  actual  course  which  redemptive 
love  has  pursued.  Indeed,  the  contemplation  of  the 
patience  exhibited  in  the  moral  government  and 
education  of  the  world  may,  in  some  cases,  have  led 
thinkers  to  qualify  or  correct  their  conception  of  the 
laws  which  guide  the  operations  of  nature  itself.  They 
have  learned  that  the  perplexing  slowness  and  apparent 
imperfection  of  physical  processes  corresponds  to  the 
comprehensiveness  of  the  divine  plan  for  the  universe1. 
Further,  the  divine  character  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ 
prepares  us  to  recognize  the  principle  of  accommodation 
in  the  Old  Testament.  The  direction  of  the  movement 
therein  described  is  towards  a  liberation  of  human 
nature  from  the  shackles  of  a  rudimentary  state. 
There  was  evidently  a  law  of  progress  at  work  in  the 
Mosaic  system ;  some  element  which  exerted  a  steady 
and  continuous  upward  pressure.  At  the  same  time 
there  was  a  gradual  extrication  of  eternal  principles 
from  their  local,  material,  and  temporary  embodiment, 

1  See  a  striking  passage  in  Flint's  Theism,  pp.  258  foil. 
M  2 


164     PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD     [LECT. 

and  to  this  process  no  doubt  the  teaching  of  the 
prophets  mainly  contributed.  It  has  indeed  been 
maintained  that  the  chief  ethical  and  religious  ideas  of 
Judaism  were  practically  the  creation  of  the  prophets, 
but  .there  are  ample  indications  that  their  task  was 
rather  that  of  bringing  to  light  principles  which,  in 
a  germinal  form  at  least,  had  been  asserted  by  Moses 
himself;  and  that  the  foundations  of  Hebrew  religion 
had  already  been  deeply  laid  in  the  days  of  the  nation's 
youth  1.  It  was  indisputably  the  preaching  of  the 
prophets  that  brought  home  to  Israel's  conscious- 
ness the  moral  conditions  attaching  to  its  privileged 
position ;  but  from  the  first  the  nation  had  been 
instructed  that  its  special  relationship  to  Jehovah,  the 
holy  God  of  redemption,  involved  a  call  to  separation 
from  the  sins  and  pollutions  of  Semitic  heathenism. 
Granted  that  the  nature  and  meaning  of  its  vocation 
was  for  centuries  very  imperfectly  realized  by  the 
Hebrew  people,  it  is  at  least  abundantly  evident  that 
the  religion  of  the  Old  Testament  originated  in  the 
fact  of  an  election — that  is,  in  a  special  consecration 
of  Israel  to  the  service  of  its  Redeemer.  And  the 
enduring  value  of  Israel's  religious  history  lies  to 
a  great  extent  in  this — that  it  expands  and  enriches 
our  whole  conception  of  deity.  For  it  bears  witness 
to  the  operation  of  an  omnipotent  Being  who  stoops 
from  His  throne  to  become  the  educator  of  man, 
and  who  is  guided  in  His  dealings  with  our  race  not 
merely  by  a  fixed  purpose  of  love,  but  by  a  perfect 
insight  into  human  limitations.  In  His  Son  God  has 
explicitly  revealed  the  principle  which  had  all  along 
determined  the  method  of  His  self-manifestation.  We 
are  told  that  the  Saviour  of  men  spake  the  word  unto 
them  as  they  were  able  to  hear  it'2.  And  while  the 
advance  of  knowledge  has  filled  these  words  with 

1  Cp.  Konig,  The  Religious  History  of  'Israel ',  ch.  xi. 

2  Mark  iv.  33  ;  cp.  Isa.  xxviii.  10.     Oettli,  cp.  cit.  p.  19,  remarks  :  *  Im 
Lichte  der  Offenbarung  sich  uns  die  Entwicklung  nunmehr  als  Erziehung 
darstellt.' 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD          165 

deeper  significance  in  proportion  as  it  has  taught 
us  to  take  more  sober  views  of  human  nature  and 
its  capacities,  practical  experience  has  vindicated  the 
intrinsic  reasonableness  of  the  wearisome  tardiness 
which  has  marked  the  onward  progress  of  revelation. 
'  Grace  submitting  to  delay,'  it  has  been  beautifully  said, 
'is  only  love  consenting  to  be  guided  by  wisdom1.'  The 
protracted  discipline  to  which  the  chosen  people  of  God 
was  subjected,  was  the  one  and  only  means,  so  far  as 
we  have  faculties  for  judging,  by  which  the  blessings 
of  a  higher  religion  could  have  been  in  the  long  run 
secured  for  mankind  at  large. 

We  proceed,  then,  to  illustrate  the  progressive 
character  of  the  Old  Testament  religion ;  but  it  will 
not  be  superfluous  in  passing  to  remind  ourselves 
that  Christian  criticism  is  distinguished  from  purely 
naturalistic  by  its  belief  in  a  supernatural  revelation. 
We  speak  indeed  of  the  *  progressive  development ' 
of  religious  ideas.  It  must  not,  however,  be  forgotten 
that  the  Old  Testament  exhibits  not  merely  an  inevit- 
able evolution  of  human  thought,  but  a  progressive 
self-manifestation  of  God.  Israel's  religion  is  a  religion 
not  of  thinkers  but  of  prophets,  whose  characteristic 
formula  is  Thus  saith  the  Lord.  It  presupposes 
the  immanence  of  God  in  history  and  the  reality 
of  His  self-communications.  With  this  prefatory 
remark  we  enter  upon  our  subject,  and  we  may 
begin  by  directing  attention  at  once  to  the  beneficent 
moral  purpose  which  lies  upon  the  very  surface  of 
the  Old  Testament  dispensation.  The  goal  of  the 
entire  redemptive  movement  was  an  ethical  one,  the 
salvation  and  perfecting  of  human  nature.  Thus  in 
judging  of  any  particular  stage  of  Israel's  religious  or 
moral  attainment,  we  are  bound  to  take  into  account 
the  dominating  tendency  of  the  entire  Old  Testament. 
The  observation  of  tendencies  is,  as  Bishop  Butler 
reminds  us,  a  true  source  of  knowledge2.  It  gives  us 

1  A.  B.  Bruce,  The  Chief  End  of  Revelation,  p.  112. 

2  See  The  Analogy,  Part  I,  ch.  iii. 


166     PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD    [LECT. 

a  clue  to  the  existence  of  rational  purpose  in  move- 
ments which  at  first  sight  perplex  the  mind  by  their 
unaccountable  anomalies. 

Accordingly  it  is  our  duty  to  estimate  the  character 
and  object  of  Israel's  spiritual  education  in  the  light 
of  its  final  stage.  And  if  the  distinctive  element  in 
the  religion  of  Christ  is  *  inwardness1,'  there  can  be  no 
question  that  the  conspicuous  feature  of  the  old 
dispensation  is  that  it  uniformly  exhibits  a  principle  of 
progress,  from  outward  to  inward,  from  legal  status  to 
ethical  attainment,  from  external  restraints  to  internal 
principles,  from  law  to  love.  The  regulation  of 
conduct  precedes  the  cultivation  of  religious  affections; 
active  conformity  to  a  code  or  system  comes  before 
renewal  of  heart;  the  sign  or  symbol  prepares  the  way 
for  what  is  real  and  essential ;  the  material  and 
physical  for  the  spiritual  and  moral.  No  ancient 
writer,  it  may  be  remarked,  has  a  clearer  conception 
of  the  educational  significance  of  the  Old  Testament 
history  than  Irenaeus.  '  God/  he  says  in  one  memor- 
able passage,  'was  all  along  instructing  the  people  which 
so  readily  turned  back  to  its  idols,  educating  them  by 
repeated  admonitions  to  persevere  and  to  serve  God, 
calling  them  by  means  of  things  secondary  to  things 
primary — that  is,  by  means  of  things  typical  to  things 
real,  things  temporal  to  things  eternal,  things  carnal  to 
things  spiritual,  things  earthly  to  things  celestial2.' 

Thus,  to  take  the  sphere  of  worship,  we  must 
begin  by  recalling  to  mind  the  usual  characteristics 
of  early  religion.  '  Ritual  and  practical  usage/  says 
Prof.  Robertson  Smith,  'were,  strictly  speaking,  the 
sum  total  of  ancient  religions.  Religion  in  primitive 
times  was  not  a  system  of  belief  with  practical  applica- 
tions ;  it  was  a  body  of  fixed  traditional  practices  to 
which  every  member  of  society  conformed  as  a  matter 
of  course.  .  .  Practice  preceded  doctrinal  theory  V 

1  Aug.  de  nat.  et  grat.  Ixxii  :  '  Facere  est  iustitiam  in  vero  Dei  cultu 
cum  interne  concupiscentiae  malo  interna  conflictatione  pugnare.' 

2  Haer.  iv.  14,  §  3. 

3  The  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  21. 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD          167 

Now  the  distinctive  ordinances  of  the  Hebrew  cultus 
were  ascribed  to  Moses,  and  were  usually  sanctioned 
by  the  formula,  Jehovah  spake  ^^,nto  Moses.  The  study 
of  comparative  religion,  however,  renders  it  practically 
certain  that  the  primitive  lawgiver  selected  from  an 
existing  body  of  practices  those  which  might  best  pro-  / 
mote  the  purpose  of  moral  cultivation.  It  will  probably  * 
never  be  clearly  ascertained  what  usages  were  thus 
inherited,  and  what  were  newly  instituted  by  Moses 
himself;  what  is  plain,  however,  is  the  principle  which 
guided  the  organization  of  Mosaic  religion.  Whatever 
traditional  customs,  institutions,  or  ideas  peculiar  to  the 
Semitic  race  Moses  adopted  or  retained,  they  were, 
under  divine  guidance,  so  regulated  and  purified  as  to  i 
become  disciplinary  agents  in  the  evolution  of  a  higher! 
type  of  spiritual  and  moral  life  ;  they  were  consecrated! 
to  the  service  of  a  purer  faith,  and  were  made  the  instru- 
ments of  a  purpose  of  grace.  As  Riehm  observes, 
'  What  the  Old  Testament  religion  has  in  common 
with  the  other  religions  of  antiquity  is  to  be  regarded 
as  permitted  by  God,  and  as  having  a  basis  in  the 
divine  educational  purpose '  for  mankind.  Restriction, 
however,  seems  to  be  more  characteristic  of  Mosaism 
than  comprehensiveness.  Indeed,  the  earliest  legisla- 
tion confines  itself  mainly  to  prohibition.  It  rather 
regulates  existing  institutions  than  adds  to  them,  but 
its  dominating  tendency  is  manifest.  It  *  ever  aims 
at  bringing  popular  custom  into  conformity  with  the 
principles  of  equity,  generosity,  and  truth  V  Thus, 
for  example,  the  rite  of  circumcision  was  not  set  aside, 
but  was  retained,  and  hallowed  as  a  token  of  the  new 
relationship  established  between  God  and  man  at  the 
exodus.  Though  its  actual  origin  and  purpose  is 
somewhat  obscure,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  practice 
was  customary  in  other  Semitic  tribes  2.  Apparently  it 
was  known  to  the  Hebrews  in  patriarchal  times,  and  was 

1  Schultz,  O.  T.  Theology,  vol.  ii.  p.  62. 

2  Cp.  Riehm,  ^477.   Theologie,  p.  51;    Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of 
the  Semites,  pp.  309,  310 ;  Renan,  Histoire  du  peuple  d'  Israel,  bk.  i,  ch.  9. 


168     PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD    [LECT. 

then  adopted  as  a  seal  and  condition  of  admission  to 
religious  privileges.  Under  the  influence  of  Moses 
it  firmly  established  itself  in  the  national  religion 
of  Israel  ;  and  the  moral  effect  of  the  practice  may 
be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  in  course  of  time  the 
word  'circumcised'  became  equivalent  to  'consecrated/ 
and  could  be  indifferently  applied  to  the  heart,  the 
ears,  and  the  lips l.  No  circumstance  could  more 
aptly  illustrate  the  aim  and  tendency  of  Mosaic 
institutions.  So,  again,  the  tribal  customs  connected 
with  slavery,  retaliation,  the  observance  of  the  seventh 
day,  the  payment  of  tithes,  divorce,  marriage  with 
a  brother's  wife,  and  even  polygamy,  were  probably 
recognized  by  Moses.  Some  of  these  institutions 
were  tolerated  in  view  of  the  hardness  of  the 
people's  hearts ;  others  were  so  regulated  and 
restricted  as  to  become  effective  media  in  Israel's 
moral  improvement  —  media  full  of  religious  signi- 
ficance, and  pointing  beyond  themselves  to  a  spiritual 
counterpart  of  all  that  was  as  yet  purely  material  and 
external. 

The  system  of  sacrifice  itself  is  a  striking  illustration 
of  divine  accommodation  to  immature  ideas.  It  is 
apparently  recognized  in  the  Old  Testament  as  a  natural 
means  of  approach  to  God2.  Man's  instinctive  way  of 
rendering  homage  to  God  and  appeasing  his  own  con- 
sciousness of  guilt  was  incorporated  in  the  practical 
system  of  Mosaism,  and  the  very  fact  that  the  institution 
was  divinely  sanctioned  raised  it  to  a  new  level  of  im- 
portance. Israel's  sacrificial  worship  tended  to  become 
an  elaborate  and  comprehensive  system  of  spiritual 
instruction,  awakening  aspirations  which  no  material 
oblations  could  ultimately  satisfy.  It  was,  however,  at 
a  mature  stage  of  Hebrew  civilization,  in  dark  days 

1  Lev.  xix.  23,  xxvi.  14;  Exod.  vi.  12, 30  ;  Deut.  x.  16,  xxx.  6  ;  Jer.  vi.  10, 
ix.  25,  &c. 

2  Lev.  xvii.  1 1  :    « The  life  of  the  flesh  is  in  the  blood  :   and  I  have 
given  it  to  you  upon  the  altar  to  make  an  atonement  for  your  souls.'    This 
passage  implies  that  what  Jehovah  accepts  and  blesses  is  in  a  true  sense 
His  gift  to  man. 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD          169 

of  national  decline,  that  the  spiritual  truths  symbolized 
by  sacrifice  were  brought  into  prominence  1.  Hebrew 
faith  then  at  length  perceived  that  sacrifice  was 
a  means  and  not  an  end  ;  that  it  had  a  value  only 
in  so  far  as  it  represented  an  inward  act  of  self-oblation 
to  Jehovah.  On  the  other  hand,  it  came  to  be  recog- 
nized that  where  a  man's  heart  was  true,  external 
offerings  might  be  acceptable  to  God  as  proof  of 
his  devotion.  It  is  the  broken-hearted  penitent 
who,  after  declaring  that  the  only  true  sacrifice  is 
a  contrite  heart,  utters  the  fervent  vow,  Then  shall 
thoii,  be  pleased  with  the  sacrifices  of  righteousness,  with 
the  burnt-offerings  and  oblations :  then  shall  they  offer 
young  bullocks  iipon  thine  altar 2. 

A  true  revelation,  then,  of  God's  character  is  involved 
in  the  very  fact  that  He  sanctioned  sacrificial  worship 
and  such  other  primitive  customs  as  found  a  place  in 
the  system  of  Moses.  It  may  indeed  be  questioned 
how  far  Israel  in  Egypt  is  correctly  represented  as 
a  sunken  and  barbarous  race3.  Oehler  points  out  that 
in  the  Pentateuch  the  Israelites  appear  to  be  rather  an 
unmanageable  than  an  uncultivated  people.  In  any 
case,  however,  a  prolonged  and  carefully  graduated 
discipline  was  needed  to  lift  them  above  the  degraded 
nature-worship  towards  which,  when  left  to  themselves, 
they  habitually  gravitated,  and  it  is  analogous  to  the 
ordinary  method  of  God's  providential  government  that 
He  should  condescend  to  use  existing  customs  and 
institutions;  that  He  should  even  for  a  while  bear  with 
very  crude  and  imperfect  conceptions  of  His  own 
nature  and  character.  This  is  the  significance  of  the 
fact  that  the  Pentateuch  repeatedly  dwells  upon  the 
low  standard  actually  exhibited  by  the  people  in  early 
times.  Indeed,  one  object  of  the  prophetic  book  of 

1  Cp.  Ps.  1.  8  foil.,  li.  15  foil. ;  Amos  v.  24;  Hos.  vi.  6;   Isa.  i.  16  foil. ; 
Jer.  vii.  21  foil. 

2  Ps.  li.  19. 

3  See  Renan,  Histoire  du  peuple  &  Israel,  bk.  i,  ch.  1 1 ;  Edersheim, 
Warburton  Lectures,  pp.  233  foil.  ;  Robertson,   The  Early  Religion  of 
Israel,  note  xxiv  ;  Oehler,  Theology  of  the  O.  T.  §  26,  note  3. 


\ 


I yo      PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD     [LECT. 

Deuteronomy  is  to  *  dissuade '  the  people  '  from  the 
opinion  of  their  own  righteousness  by  rehearsing  their 
several  rebellions  V  Understand  therefore,  says  the 
writer,  that  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee  not  this  good 
land  to  possess  it  for  thy  righteousness ;  for  thou  art 
a  stiffnecked  people.  Remember \  and  forget  not,  how 
thou  provokedst  the  Lord  thy  God  to  wrath  in  the 
wilderness :  from  the  day  that  thou  didst  depart  out 
of  the  land  of  Egypt,  until  ye  came  unto  this  place,  ye 
have  been  rebellious  against  the  Lord*.  It  is  worthy  of 
God  that  He  should  deign  to  be  the  educator  of  His 
people.  The  mere  recognition  or  toleration  of  what 
is  rude  and  morally  defective  reveals  a  deity  not 
only  righteous  and  just,  but  patient,  wise,  and  loving. 
In  the  simple  precepts  delivered  to  an  untutored  race, 
in  the  directions  that  were  adapted  to  the  circum- 
stances of  a  primitive  age,  '  we  can  recognize/  it  has 
been  said,  '  the  beating  heart  of  the  living  God  V 

When  we  turn  from  the  sphere  of  religious 
observance  to  that  of  ethical  ideas,  we  see  at  once 
how  progress  depended  upon  the  existence  of  some 
well-defined,  though  simple,  conception  of  the  divine 
character.  Nothing  short  of  a  belief  in  the  living 
God  was  capable  of  giving  impulse  and  direction  to 
the  movement  towards  a  higher  standard.  In  its| 
fundamental  idea  of  Jehovah's  character  lies  the  secret 
of  Israel's  moral  superiority  to  the  surrounding 
heathen.  The  ethics  of  Mosaism  are  in  fact  rooted 
in  its  theology,  just  as  its  theology  is  based  on  the 
historic  fact  of  the  exodus  from  Egypt.  /  am  Jehovah 
thy  God,  that  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  out 
of  the  house  of  bondage.  As  a  consequence  of  its 
deliverance,  Israel  entered  into  definite  relationship 
with  a  Being  personal  and  moral,  a  Being  not  merely 
possessed  of  invincible  might,  but  manifesting  Himself 
as  righteous;  for  the  overthrow  of  Egyptian  power  was 
a  triumph  both  of  grace  aiding  the  weak,  and  of  right- 

1  Deut.  ix  (heading  in  A.  V.).  2  Deut.  ix.  6,  7. 

6  Oettli,  op.  cit.  p.  20. 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD          171 

eousness  punishing  the  oppressor.  Thus  an  ethical 
conception  of  deity  formed  the  starting-point  of  Israel's 
religion.  Holiness  was  declared  to  be  at  once  the  rule 
of  divine  action  and  a  law  for  human  conduct 1. 

It  would  be  misleading  to  speak  of  Mosaism  as  if  it 
embraced  a  formal  system  of  ethics.  It  did,  how- 
ever, prepare  the  way  for  a  system  by  a  gradual, 
but  in  the  long  run  effectual,  elucidation  of  two  ideas 
which  a  religious  system  of  morals  seems  to  pre- 
suppose:  first,  the  idea  of  holiness;  secondly,  the  idea 
of  the  worth  and  dignity  of  personality. 

In  a  former  lecture  we  have  noticed  how  the  idea  of 
holiness  was  transferred  in  process  of  time  from  the 
sphere  of  ritual  to  that  of  ethics ;  how  the  notion  of 
religious  separation  gradually  passed  into  that  of  moral 
sanctity.  The  point,  however,  to  be  observed  here  is 
that  the  deeper  sense  of  the  word  '  holiness '  was 
suggested  at  the  very  starting-point  of  Israel's  career. 
The  proof  of  this  statement  lies  in  the  general 
characteristics  of  the  earliest  legislation.  On  the 
one  hand,  there  is  a  comparative  silence  in  regard 
to  points  of  ritual.  Certainly  the  Mosaic  cultus 
was  for  a  long  period  merely  *  an  affair  of  practice  and 
tradition,  resting  on  knowledge  that  belonged  to  the 
priestly  guild  V  It  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
reduced  to  theory  or  formally  codified  at  the  time  of 
the  exodus.  The  positive  ordinances  that  relate  to 
worship  in  the  'Book  of  the  Covenant'  are  of  the  most 
simple  and  primitive  character.  There  is  only  one 
direction  that  touches  upon  ceremonial  purity,  viz. 
a  precept  to  abstain  from  the  flesh  of  animals  torn  by 
wild  beasts  3.  There  are  also  injunctions  bearing  upon 
the  erection  of  altars,  the  offering  of  firstfruits,  and  the 
observance  of  three  stated  feasts  connected  with  the 
ordinary  conditions  of  agricultural  life.  All  the  other 

1  Cp.  W.  S.  Bruce,  Ethics  of  the  O.  T.  ch.  iii. 

2  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  inj.  C.  p.  332. 

3  Exod.  xxii.  31.     Cp.  xx.  24,  xxii.  29,  xxiii.  14  foil.     Observe  two  points 
of  sacrificial  ritual  in  xxiii.  18.    Cp.  Driver,  Introduction  to  the  Literature 
of  the  O.  T.  pp.  33  foil. 


\ 


172      PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD     [LECT. 

precepts  of  the  first  legislation  are  social  and  ethical  ; 
they  regulate  the  transactions  of  man  with  his  fellow  ; 
they  provide  for  the  due  punishment  of  injuries 
inflicted  upon  a  fellow  Israelite  either  unwittingly  or 
with  malicious  intent ;  they  define  the  elementary 
rights  of  the  slave  and  they  enjoin  certain  minor 
duties  of  humanity.  The  crimes  restrained  are  such 
as  would  be  common  in  a  rude  and  semi-civilized  com- 
munity. What  is  most  striking,  however,  is  the  con- 
stant reference  made  to  the  divine  authority  behind 
the  law.  If  the  widow  or  fatherless  child  is  afflicted, 
Jehovah  will  hear  their  cry,  and  His  wrath  shall  wax 
hot^.  Jehovah  himself  watches,  as  it  were,  over  the 
administration  of  justice  and  guards  the  interests  of 
the  helpless  and  friendless.  Indeed,  the  distinctive 
peculiarity  of  the  legislation  is  the  prominence  assigned 
to  righteousness  and  humanity.  Its  effect  could  not 
fail  to  be  that  of  deepening  the  sense  of  Jehovah's 
chief  requirement,  or,  in  other  words,  elucidating  the 
notion  of  His  holiness. 

The  Decalogue  is  especially  significant  in  this  con- 
nexion, for  in  it  we  may  confidently  believe  that 
we  have  an  original  monument  of  Mosaism.  It  is 
indisputable  that  '  the  ten  words '  are  an  index  to  the 
character  of  Moses'  work  in  so  far  as  they  place 
morality  in  the  forefront  of  Israel's  religion,  and 
form  a  commentary  on  the  meaning  of  the  '  holiness ' 
ascribed  to  the  God  of  redemption.  I  am  aware  of 
the  view  advanced  by  some  eminent  critics  that  the 
Decalogue,  even  in  its  original  form,  cannot  be  as- 
cribed to  Moses 2.  Moreover,  as  is  well  known, 
there  is  a  so-called  second  Decalogue  contained  in 
Exod.  xxxiv.  10-28  3,  which  is  one  of  the  puzzles  of 

1  Exod.  xxii.  24. 

2  See  e.g.  Cornill,  Der  Israelitische  Prophetismus,  17;   Wellhausen, 
Sketch^  &c.,  p.  21  ;   Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures,  appendix  i.  (p.  553). 
There  is,  of  course,  an  important  revelation  of  Jehovah's  character  in  the 
sanctions  attached  to  the  first  four  '  words  ; '  but  on  this  point  it  would  be 
unwise  to  insist,  inasmuch  as  these  sanctions  appear  to  belong  to  a  later 
age  than  the  Decalogue  itself. 

3  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  in  J.  C.  p.  335  ;  Driver,  op.  cit.  p.  37. 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD          173 

criticism.  But  we  seem  to  be  justified  in  adhering  to 
the  traditional  view  of  the  Decalogue  chiefly  on  the 
ground  that  it  is  intrinsically  credible.  It  is  consistent 
with  all  that  we  know  of  Israel's  subsequent  history, 
and  it  would  be  impossible  to  explain  satisfactorily  the 
vitality  and  vigour  displayed  in  the  conquest  of 
Canaan  without  the  supposition  that  the  long  observ- 
ance of  some  primary  laws  of  moral  conduct  had 
moulded  the  character  of  the  nation  and  consolidated  its 
strength  1.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  scarcely  conceiv- 
able that  the  prophets  were  the  first  ethical  teachers  of 
Israel.  It  has  been  justly  pointed  out  that  'the  more 
the  pre-prophetic  religion  is  depreciated,  the  more 
difficult  it  will  be  to  account  for  its  sudden  rise  to  the 
level  in  which  we  find  it  in  the  earliest  writing 
prophets  V  The  prophets  never  claim  the  position  of 
pioneers  in  religion ;  they  regard  themselves  as 
restorers  of  a  moral  and  religious  ideal  which  had 
been  set  before  the  people  at  the  very  outset  of  its 
history  3.  Their  language  implies  that  Mosaism  was 
pre-eminently  an  ethical  religion  ;  that,  in  fact,  it  had 
laid  the  foundations  of  Israel's  polity  in  a  lofty  con- 
ception of  God,  and  in  the  exaltation  of  righteousness 
as  the  essential  element  in  true  and  acceptable  wor- 
ship. Certainly  this  view  harmonizes  with  the  fact 
that  the  Old  Testament  uniformly  ascribes  to  Moses 
a  prophetic  character. 

The  notion  of  holiness,  then,  was  closely  associated 
with  morality  in  the  Sinaitic  legislation,  and  each 
fresh  disclosure  of  Jehovah's  character  contributed 
something  to  the  education  of  conscience  and  de- 
veloped more  profound  conceptions  of  human  duty. 
In  this  progressive  movement  the  book  of  Deutero- 

1  Prof.  Kamphausen,  quoted  by  Montefiore  (Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  47), 
says :  '  I  recognize  in  the  fact  that  the  small  number  of  the  Israelites  was 
not  absorbed  by  the  Canaanites,  who  were  by  far  their  superiors  in  all 
matters  of  external  culture,  a  convincing  proof  of  the  ethical  power  of  the 
Yahvistic  religion.' 

2  Robertson,  The  Early  Religion  of  Israel t  p.  264. 

3  Cp.  Konig,  Religious  History  of  Israel,  p.  25. 


174     PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD     [LECT. 

nomy  may  be  said  to  play  a  decisive  part l.  The 
didactic  recapitulation  of  the  history  and  legislation, 
which  is  characteristic  of  this  book,  was  apparently 
intended  to  serve  the  purpose  of  deepening  the 
religious  life  of  Israel  by  bringing  out  the  spiritual 
significance  of  its  past  experience.  It  is  the  spirit  of 
the  prophets  which  gives  to  Deuteronomy  its  peculiar 
tone  and  impress.  In  teaching  that  the  service  of 
Jehovah  demands  not  formal  compliance  with  the  ex- 
ternal precepts  of  the  law,  but  an  inward  devotion  of 
heart  and  will,  the  book  bears  eloquent  testimony  to 
the  true  genius  and  character  of  Mosaism.  It  evidently 
presupposes  the  existence  of  a  well-understood  moral 
code  reaching  back  to  the  very  commencement  of 
Israel's  national  life.  And  if  it  is  urged  that  the  low 
moral  condition  of  the  people  during  the  wanderings 
contradicts  the  idea  that  Moses  instituted  a  pure  and 
imageless  worship  of  the  true  God,  it  may  be  rejoined 
that  the  practical  failure  of  the  prophets  to  win  the 
mass  of  the  people  to  a  higher  standard  of  morals  and 
worship  proves  the  possibility  at  least  of  an  analogous 
condition  of  things  in  the  time  of  Moses  himself. 
Wellhausen  and  others  question  the  authenticity  of 
the  second  commandment  on  the  express  ground  that 
its  observance  was  virtually  unknown  throughout  the 
older  period  of  the  history.  '  Could  Moses,'  it  is 
asked,  '  have  forbidden  image-worship,  when  we  know 
that  the  representation  of  Jehovah  under  the  form  of 
a  bull  was  a  common  and  scarcely  reprehended  custom 
down  to  the  age  of  Amos-?'  Now  the  analogy  of 
later  history  renders  it  perfectly  credible  that 
a  spiritual  worship  of  Jehovah  was  enjoined  as  an 
ideal  by  Moses,  but  that  it  did  not  prevent  an 
occasional  or  even  constant  declension  of  the  people 
to  a  lower  standard.  This  account  of  the  matter  is 
more  simple  than  the  supposition  that  the  second  com- 
mandment is  a  late  insertion  into  an  earlier  form  of 

L  Cp.  W.  S.  Bruce,  The  Ethics  of  the  O.  T.  pp.  224  foil. 
2  Montefiore,  Hitbert  Lectures,  appendix  i. 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD          175 

the  Decalogue 1 ;  moreover,  it  is  consistent  with  the 
fact,  pointed  out  by  M.  Renan,  that  nomadic  religion 
is  as  a  rule  simple  in  character,  and  that  the  primitive 
Semites  had  little  liking  for  figured  presentments  of 
the  deity2.  Neither  theory,  however,  vitally  affects 
the  main  point  on  which  I  have  been  insisting,  namely, 
the  distinctively  ethical  character  of  Mosaism.  The 
basis  of  righteousness  was  laid  in  simple  precepts 
designed  to  protect  life,  property,  chastity,  and  the 
reverence  due  to  parents  3.  The  holiness  of  Jehovah 
was  in  process  of  time  seen  to  consist  in  His  utter 
abhorrence  of  inhuman  and  unrighteous  conduct ;  and 
in  the  ethical  connotation  imparted  to  the  notion 
of  holiness  lies  the  characteristic  contribution  of 
Mosaic  religion  to  the  advancement  of  ethical  theory 
and  practice. 

There  was  another  idea  which  needed  develop- 
ment before  morality  could  become  in  any  sense 
systematic  :  the  idea,  namely,  of  the  worth,  dignity, 
and  rights  of  personality. 

In  the  early  stages  of  Hebrew  civilization,  religion 
appears  to  accommodate  itself  to  a  defective  or  even 
debased  notion  of  human  individuality.  This  state- 
ment may  be  justified  by  such  incidents  as  the 
destruction  of  Achan's  household,  the  doom  of  Dathan 
and  Abiram  with  their  company,  and  the  slaughter  of 
the  Canaanites  whom  Israel  dispossessed  of  their  land. 
An  attentive  reader  of  the  Old  Testament,  however, 

1  Cp.  Bruce,  Apologetics,  p.  212.  Kittel,  Hist,  of  the  Hebrews,  vol.  i. 
p.  235,  takes  a  mediating  view.  '  Neither  the  Decalogue  nor  the  Book 
of  the  Covenant  in  their  present  form  can  be  directly  Mosaic.  Criticism 
must  be  allowed  a  free  hand  in  separating  the  later  additions  and  enlarge- 
ments, which  here  also  are  quite  intelligible.  When  this  is  done,  the 
original  kernel,  both  of  the  one  document  and  of  the  other,  must  remain. 
Their  Mosaic  origin  is  witnessed  to  in  a  manner  which  deserves  the 
fullest  credence  :  the  infrequency  with  which  such  witness  is  borne ;  the 
contents,  as  well  as  the  concise  and  lapidary  style,  of  these  two  funda- 
mental laws  ;  the  history  of  the  circumstances  amidst  which  we  have 
shown  they  originated  ;— are  sufficient  proofs.' 

*  Histoire  du  peuple  d1  Israel,  bk.  i,  ch.  4  init. 

3  It  is  significant  that  in  referring  to  'the  commandments'  our  Lord 
does  not  mention  the  first,  second,  third,  or  fourth  (Mark  x.  19  ;  cp.  Matt. 
xix.  1 6  foil.,  Luke  xviii.  18  foil.). 


176     PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD     [LECT. 

will  observe  that  the  foundations  of  a  true  conception 
of  personality  are  being  laid  even  at  a  period  when 
the  existence  of  individual  rights  seems  to  be  totally 
ignored.  The  germ  of  a  doctrine  of  human  indi- 
viduality is  perhaps  to  be  traced  in  the  rite  of  circum- 
cision, which  was  extended  to  children  and  even  to 
the  servants  of  a  Hebrew  household.  Further,  we 
may  point  to  all  primitive  enactments  which  limited 
the  arbitrary  power  of  those  who  owned  slaves  19  or 
enjoined  simple  duties  of  charity  and  humanity 2.  Nor 
must  we  overlook  the  influence  of  those  sacred  tradi- 
tions which  witnessed  to  a  divine  tenderness  for  the 
humble  and  lonely  soul,  the  story  of  Hagar,  for 
example,  whom  the  angel  of  the  Lord  '  found '  by 
a  fountain  of  water  in  the  wilderness  of  Shur  and 
addressed  by  name :  Hagar,  Sarais  maid,  whence 
earnest  thou  f  and  whither  wilt  thou  go 3  f  These  con- 
siderations show  that  the  Law  in  its  earliest  stages 
implicitly  recognized  that  very  truth  of  man's  relation- 
ship to  God  and  to  his  fellow  which  ultimately  led 
to  the  recognition  of  his  own  personal  rights  as  an 
individual 4.  By  way  of  illustrating  this  point,  we 
may  notice  the  practice  of  human  sacrifice  and  the 
divine  injunction  to  slaughter  the  Canaanites. 

In  regard  to  human  sacrifice  we  may  at  once 
set  aside  the  notion  of  an  original  connexion 
between  the  worship  of  Moloch  and  the  service  of 
Jehovah,  which  some  critics  base,  somewhat  fancifully, 
on  the  description  of  Jehovah  as  'fire5.'  Neverthe- 
less, it  is  clear  that  the  primitive  Semites  regarded 
human  life — the  life,  for  instance,  of  a  fellow-tribes- 
man— as  a  thing  of  unique  sanctity,  and  therefore 
likely  to  be  specially  efficacious  when  employed  as 

1  Exod.  xxi.  20  ;  Deut.  xxi.  10  foil. 

2  See  Exod.  chh.  xxi-xxiii  ;  Deut.  chh.  xx,  xxii,  xxiv,  xxv. 
8  Gen.  xvi.  8  ;  cp.  xxi.  17. 

*  Cp.  Mozley,  Ruling  Ideas  in  Early  Ages,  p.  235. 

5  See  Konig,  The  Religion  of  Israel,  ch.  ix  \  Robertson,  Early  Religion 
of  Israel,  ch.  x.  On  human  sacrifice  in  Israel  see  Schultz,  O.  T. 
Theology,  vol.  i.  p.  191  ;  Dillmann  on  Genesis  xxii;  Kamphausen,  Das 
Verhaltnis  des  Menschenopfers  zur  Isr.  Religion,  &c. 


iv]      PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD          177 

a  medium  of  atonement.  This  will  account  for  the 
occasional  tendency  of  Israel  to  relapse  into  the  bar- 
barous customs  of  heathen  worship.  The  primitive 
notion  that  God  might  claim  for  Himself  a  human  life 
as  man's  most  acceptable  offering,  probably  lingered 
long  in  the  popular  mind.  The  idea,  indeed,  con- 
tained an  element  of  nobility  and  truth  which  the 
religion  of  Jehovah  was  destined  to  extricate  and 
purify.  We  naturally  think  in  this  connexion  of  the 
offering  of  Isaac  by  Abraham  described  in  the  twenty- 
second  chapter  of  Genesis.  What,  then,  is  the 
purport  of  this  narrative  ?  The  point  of  it  appears 
to  depend  on  the  '  prevailing  low  theology  of  sacrifice,' 
in  which  for  the  moment  Jehovah  seems  to  acquiesce  1. 
The  injunction  to  sacrifice  a  human  victim  to  Jehovah 
was  in  accordance  with  the  ideas  common  to  Abra- 
ham's race  and  the  age  in  which  he  lived 2.  There 
was  nothing  in  the  spirit  of  his  time  that  would 
necessarily  deter  the  patriarch  from  executing  it. 
Further,  the  passage  in  question  supplies  an  explana- 
tion of  the  fact,  that  at  a  comparatively  early  stage  in  its 
history  the  Hebrew  people  was  distinguished  from  its 
heathen  neighbours  by  the  disuse  of  human  sacrifice 3. 
God  dealt  with  the  custom  pedagogically,  and  in  a 
manner  analogous  to  His  action  in  other  departments 
of  mans  moral  education.  The  element  of  good 
which  lies  at  the  root  of  human  sacrifice  was  en- 
forced— viz.  the  principle  that  man  is  bound  to  devote 
to  God  his  best  and  choicest  gift.  It  was  this  element 
which  made  Abraham's  act  not  only  morally  glorious, 
but  typical  of  the  perfect  '  sacrifice,  oblation,  and  satis- 
faction '  which  was  consummated  on  Calvary.  The 
subsequent  effect  of  the  tradition  embodied  in  this 
narrative  was  twofold.  On  the  one  hand,  the  practice 
of  human  sacrifice  came  to  be  regarded  with  horror  as 

1  Cp.  Newman  Smyth,  Old  Faiths  in  New  Lights,  pp.  84-90. 

2  Cp.   Renan,    Histoire  du  peuple  d  Israel,   bk.   i.   ch.   9    [Eng.  Tr. 
p.  102]. 

3  Robertson,  Early  Religion  of  Israel,  p.  254.     Cp.  Fairbairn,  Religion 
in  History  and  in  Modern  Life,  lect.  ii.  p.  129. 

N 


178     PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD     [LECT. 

a  shocking  relapse  into  heathen  atrocities;  on  the  other, 
there  arose  a  more  profound  conception  of  Jehovah's 
requirement  :  He  was  a  God  *  who  did  not  delight  in 
destroying  life,  but  in  saving  and  sanctifying  it 1 ' ;  and 
the  oblation  in  which  alone  He  could  delight  was  the 
free-will  offering  of  a  perfect  human  obedience.  Thus 
the  divine  Educator  practically  succeeded  in  destroy- 
ing the  fatal  errors,  and  saving  the  vital  truth,  of 
sacrifice2.  He  accepts  the  best  that  primitive  man 
can  offer,  and,  as  Dr.  Mozley  observes,  directs  his 
*  earlier  ideas  and  modes  of  thinking  towards  such 
great  moral  achievements  as  are  able  to  be  founded 
upon  them  3.' 

So  much  may  be  said  from  an  apologetic  point  of 
view  in  regard  to  Genesis  xxii.  The  bearing  of  the 
narrative,  however,  upon  our  present  subject  lies  in  its 
contribution  to  the  idea  of  the  worth  of  personality, 
and  in  its  restriction  of  absolute  paternal  rights.  It 
inculcates  the  lesson  that  *  parents  have  only  such 
rights  over,  their  children  as  are  consistent  with  the 
acknowledgment  of  God's  higher  right  of  property  4/ 

This  last  point  leads  naturally  to  the  consideration 
of  the  divine  injunction  to  exterminate  the  inhabitants 
of  Canaan.  Various  attempts  have  been  made  to 
explain,  or  mitigate,  a  sentence  of  destruction  which 
at  first  sight  seems  so  inconsistent  with  the  very 
features  of  Jehovah's  character  which  the  deliverance 
of  Israel  from  Egypt  had  manifested 5.  As  in  the 
matter  of  human  sacrifice,  so  in  this  case  it  might  be 
said  that  God  appears  to  acquiesce  in  a  view  of  human 
life  which  knows  nothing  of  individual  responsibility. 

1  Robertson,  Early  Religion  of  Israel,  p.  255. 

2  Newman  Smyth,  op.  cit.  p.  89.     Cp.  Oehler,  Theol.  of  the  O.  T.  §  23. 
On   the   sacrifice   of  Jephthah's   daughter   see    Schultz,  vol.   i.  p.   191  ; 
Robertson,  Early  Religion  of  Israel,  p.  255. 

3  Mozley,  Ruling  Ideas  in  Early  Ages,  p.  55. 

4  Oehler,  §  105.     He  observes  that  the  same  principle  appears  in  the 
ordinances   relating  to  the  redemption   of  firstborn   sons,  representing 
perhaps  the  whole  family  (Exod.  xiii.  13). 

5  See  W.  S.  Bruce,  The  Ethics  of  the  O.   T.  pp.  259  foil. ;    Mozley, 
Ruling  Ideas,  &c.,  lect.  iv. 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD          179 

But  the  judicial  extirpation  of  the  Canaanites  may 
rather  be  regarded  as  a  proof  that  the  interests  of 
man's  moral  progress  occasionally  demand  the  em- 
ployment of  stern  and  relentless  methods.  The 
Old  Testament  itself  indicates  the  real  ground  of  the 
transaction  when  it  insists  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
land  had  already  been  long  spared  in  spite  of  their 
abominations,  and  that  the  cup  of  their  iniquities  was 
now  full l.  Herein  consists  the  moral  impressiveness 
of  the  tragic  doom  that  overtook  the  Canaanites— 
a  doom  delayed  for  centuries,  but  at  length  descend- 
ing upon  the  guilty  with  appalling  severity.  The 
whole  proceeding  enters  as  a  wholesome  element 
into  the  moral  education  of  Israel  and  of  the  world. 
It  had  at  least  the  effect  of  signalizing  the  divine  ab- 
horrence of  portentous  sensuality.  It  was  an  act 
characteristic  of  that  Power  which  throughout  human 
history  '  makes  for  righteousness  Y  and  sweeps  away 
degenerate  races  in  order  to  make  way  for  such  as  are 
fresh  and  vigorous.  '  Here  is  no  partiality,'  says 
Dr.  Bruce,  '  of  a  merely  national  God  befriending 
His  worshippers  at  the  expense  of  others  without 
regard  to  justice  ;  here  rather  is  a  Power  making  for 
righteousness  and  against  iniquity ;  yea,  a  Power 
acting  with  a  beneficent  regard  to  the  good  of 
humanity,  burying  a  putrefying  carcase  out  of  sight 
lest  it  should  taint  the  air3.'  After  all,  the  Canaanite 
nations  were  put  under  the  ban,  *  not  for  false  belief, 
but  for  vile  actions  V  a  significant  circumstance  which 
plainly  implies  that  in  the  execution  of  His  righteous 
purpose  Almighty  God  is  guided  by  one  supreme  aim, 
namely,  the  elevation  of  human  character.  If  Israel 
was  duly  to  discharge  its  mission,  and  to  become  the 
vehicle  to  mankind  of  a  purer  religion  and  a  loftier 
morality,  it  was  necessary,  humanly  speaking,  that 

1  Lev.  xviii.  27  foil. ;  Deut.  xii.  31.     Cp.  Gen.  xv.  16. 

2  See  Oehler,  §  32,  note  3. 

3  Chief  End  of  Revelation,  pp.  140  foil. 

4  Westcott,  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  p.  139. 

N  2 


i8o     PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD     [LECT. 

a  signal  manifestation  vshould  be  made,  at  the  very  out- 
set of  its  history,  of  the  divine  hostility  to  sin.  It  is 
to  be  observed,  finally,  that  Israel  itself  is  threatened 
with  a  similar  judgment  in  the  event  of  its  yielding 
to  the  depraved  rites  or  practices  of  heathendom 1. 
These  considerations  at  least  suggest  that  the  idea  of 
individuality  is  one  for  which  a  moral  basis  is  required. 
The  interests  of  morality  may  well  have  demanded  an 
inexorably  severe  treatment  of  an  evil  which  might 
have  fatally  thwarted  God's  beneficent  purpose  for 
mankind  at  the  very  outset.  It  was  more  important 
that  a  people,  destined  to  be  the  missionary  of  the 
world,  should  have  a  just  conception  of  the  meaning 
of  divine  holiness,  than  that  it  should  learn  the  duty 
of  respect  for  individual  rights.  The  sense  of  national 
consecration  was  utilized  as  a  factor  in  the  develop- 
ment of  morality,  but  it  naturally  preceded  by  a  long 
interval  the  idea  of  personal  sanctification. 

With  these  few  illustrations  of  the  progressiveness 
of  Israel's  ethical  education  I  must  be  content.  The 
caution  however  may  be  repeated,  that  it  is  incon- 
sistent with  all  sound  historical  principles  to  pronounce 
a  verdict  upon  the  morality  of  the  old  dispensation 
apart  from  due  consideration  of  its  uniform  tendency, 
and  of  the  purpose  by  which  it  was  manifestly  in- 
spired and  guided 2. 

1  Deut.  viii.  19,  20 ;  xiii.  12  foil. ;  Josh,  xxiii.  15  foil. 

2  Cp.  Mozley,  Ruling  Ideas  in  Early  Ages,  p.  238 :  '  When  you  talk 
of  the  imperfect  and  mistaken  morality  of  the  Old  Testament  dispensation, 
ask  yourself,  to  begin  with,  what  you  mean,  and  what  you  intend  to  assert 
by  the  expression.     Do  you  mean  to  assert  that  the  written  law  was  im- 
perfect ?     If  that  is  all,  you  state  what  is  simply  a  fact ;  but  this  does  not 
touch  the  morality  of  the  Lawgiver,  because  He  is  abundantly  fortified  by 
the  defence  that  He  could  give  no  higher  at  the  time  to  an  unenlightened 
people.    Do  you  mean  to  assert  that  the  scope  and  design  was  imperfectly 
moral?     In  that  case  you  are  contradicted  by  the  whole  course  of  history. 
.  .  .  You  blame  in  the  Old  Testament  dispensation,  i.e.  in  its  Author, 
what?     The  moral  standard  He  permits'?     It  is  the  highest  man  can 
then  receive.     The  moral  standard  He  desiresi     He  desires  a  perfect 
moral  standard,  and  ultimately  establishes  it.' 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD          181 


II. 

Hitherto  we  have  been  engaged  in  considering 
the  progressive  character  of  revelation,  and  the  light 
which  the  history  of  Israel's  moral  development 
throws  upon  the  nature  and  attributes  of  God.  The 
prophets  and  psalmists  are  fully  alive  to  the  inner 
significance  of  the  divine  dealings  with  Israel,  and 
they  delight  to  describe  in  homely  and  tender  imagery 
the  relationship  of  love  which  bound  Jehovah  to  His 
people.  They  conceive  of  Him  as  guiding  Israel's 
footsteps  with  a  fathers  compassion,  and  feeding  His 
people  with  a  shepherd's  watchful  care.  Thou  hast 
seen,  says  the  writer  of  Deuteronomy,  how  that  the 
Lord  thy  God  bare  thee,  as  a  man  doth  bear  his  son,  in 
all  the  way  that  ye  went,  until  ye  came  into  this  place J. 
As  for  his  own  people,  sings  the  psalmist,  he  led  them 
forth  like  sheep,  and  carried  them  in  the  wilderness  like 
a  flock  2.  In  all  their  affliction,  says  a  prophet,  he 
was  afflicted,  and  the  angel  of  his  presence  saved  them  ; 
in  his  love  and  in  his  pity  he  redeemed  them;  and 
he  bare  them,  and  carried  them  all  the  days  of  old 3. 
Such  passages  have  a  religious  importance  apart  from 
their  literary  beauty.  The  psalmists  and  prophets 
look  back  upon  the  chequered  history  of  God's 
relationship  to  Israel  with  the  eyes  of  love.  In  the 
stern  but  merciful  discipline  of  the  wilderness,  in  the 
intervention  of  almighty  power,  in  the  miracles  of 
redeeming  and  sustaining  grace,  they  discern  the 
unwearied  faithfulness  and  tenderness  of  a  self-reveal- 
ing deity.  Their  chief  interest  is  to  trace  at  every 
stage  or  crisis  of  national  development  the  handiwork 
of  God  ;  they  dwell  upon  all  situations  or  incidents 
that  illustrate  the  attributes  of  God  and  the  methods 
of  His  action.  History,  in  a  word,  is  to  the  prophets 
and  saints  of  old  the  continuous  self-manifestation  of 
a  person,  the  gradual  disclosure  of  the  ineffable  Name. 

1  Deut.  i.  31 ;  cp.  Hos.  xi.  i.  2  Ps.  Ixxviii.  53.          3  Isa.  Ixiii.  9. 


182      PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD    [LECT. 

The  '  Name '  of  God  signifies  that  which  may  be 
known  of  Him,  or  rather  that  which  He  has  made 
known  of  Himself  to  man.  It  does  not  represent  the 
divine  essence  in  itself,  but  such  a  manifestation  of  it 
as  human  faculties  can  apprehend.  In  short,  the 
Name  of  God  is  His  character  as  He  would  have  it 
acknowledged  and  held  in  honour  by  man.  It  is  that 
which  in  the  life  of  His  beloved  Son  was  finally 
manifested,  and  the  successive  declarations  of  the 
divine  Name  may  be  said  to  mark  in  broad  outline 
different  stages  of  revelation.  The  conception  of 
deity  becomes  more  definite  and  clear  in  proportion 
as  redemptive  history  advances. 

Now  speaking  broadly,  there  appears  to  be  a  gradual 
transition  from  general  designations  of  the  divine 
nature  to  specific  and  full  statements  of  character. 
The  ancient  Hebrews  started  from  some  indetermi- 
nate conception  of  God  common  to  the  whole  Semitic 
race,  and  were  led  on  by  slow  degrees  to  a  living 
apprehension  of  the  being  whom  they  worshipped. 
There  was  a  relative  purity  and  spirituality  in  the 
most  ancient  Semitic  ideas  of  deity  which  distinguished 
them  from  those  of  Aryan  peoples.  This  might  be 
inferred  from  the  different  titles  of  Semitic  deities  : 
thus  El  signifies  *  strong  one ' ;  Bel  or  Baal,  '  owner ' ; 
Adonis,  'lord';  Moloch^  'king';  Rimmony  probably 
'  thunderer  V  The  fact  is  one  which  confirms  the 
impression  that  Israel  had  antecedent  aptitude  for 
becoming  the  vehicle  of  the  true  religion  to  the 
world.  The  Hebrew  started  fairly ;  he  had  not 
utterly  confounded  God  with  nature.  And  thus  from 
a  feeling  of  vague  dependence  and  fear  he  was  led 
onward  and  upward  towards  the  perception  of  a  per- 
sonality to  whom  he  could  stand  in  a  moral  relation- 
ship of  devotion,  trust,  and  love.  He  outgrew  the 
stage  in  which  the  thought  of  deity  merely  inspired 

1  Riehm,  A  77.  Theologie,  pp.  46,  47.  Riehm  observes  that  among  the 
Semites  '  die  Gottheit  wird  nicht  so  tief,  wie  bei  den  Ariern,  in  die  Natur 
und  das  Naturleben  herabgezogen.' 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD          183 

awe,  and  finally  attained  that  in  which  the  very 
mention  of  Gocl  was  a  joy,  the  very  thought  of  Him 
a  refuge  and  a  solace.  It  is  a  wonderful  ascent  in 
religious  experience,  the  successive  moments  of  which 
seem  to  be  indicated  in  the  different  designations  of 
God  contained  in  the  Old  Testament. 

The  names  of  God  must  first  be  briefly  con- 
sidered with  reference  to  their  meaning  and  origin. 
We  have,  first,  a  group  of  general  names,  of  which 
the  most  common  are  'El,  'Eloah,  ' Elohim,  and  'El 
'Elyon.  The  name  ' Elokim  has  been  thought  to 
point  to  the  polytheistic  idiom  of  the  early  Semites; 
but,  as  is  well  known,  when  applied  to  the  God  of 
Israel  it  denotes  the  one  and  only  God,  and  is  used 
with  a  singular  verb  \  The  name  may  perhaps  be 
traced  to  a  time  when  it  was  commonly  believed 
that  there  were  supernatural  beings  infesting  certain 
localities,  and  vaguely  supposed  to  be  hostile  to 
men.  '  If/  says  Prof.  Robertson  Smith,  *  the  'Elohim 
of  a  place  meant  originally  all  its  sacred  denizens  .  .  . 
the  transition  to  the  use  of  the  plural  in  a  singular 
sense  would  follow  naturally  as  soon  as  this  inde- 
terminate conception  gave  way  to  the  conception  of 
an  individual  god  of  the  sanctuary2/  It  should  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  word  is  by  no  means  exclu- 
sively applied  to  God.  It  is  occasionally  applied  to 
a  person  who  is  regarded  as  the  mouthpiece  of  a 
divine  sentence,  for  instance  to  a  judge  or  to  a  civil 
magistrate.  Moreover,  ' Elohim  is  commonly  used, 
not  only  of  the  false  deities  of  alien  nations,  but  also 
of  a  class  of  beings,  Sons  of  ' Elohim,  who  possess 
supernatural  powers,  and  belong  to  an  invisible  and 
spiritual  order.  When  applied  to  the  God  of  Israel, 
the  plural  ' ' Elohim  is  best  described  as  intensive, 
expressing  the  notion  of  *  fullness ' — plenitude  of 
superhuman  might,  or,  as  others  prefer  to  explain, 

1  See  Schultz,  i.  121 ;  ii.  126  foil. 

2  Religion  of  the  Semites^  p.  1 50.    Cf.  Renan,  Histoire  dupeuple  d' Israel, 
bk.  i.  ch.  3  [Eng.  Tr.  pp.  25,  26]. 


184     PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD    [LECT. 

of  that  which  inspires  awe  1.  In  any  case  it  implies 
a  being  who  claims  the  submission  and  adoration  of 
men;  and  it  may  fairly  be  maintained  that  the  word, 
especially  when  united  to  a  singular  verb,  indicates 
that  all  divine  powers  are,  as  it  were,  concentrated  in 
one  personal  being 2 ;  indeed,  the  phrase  may  be 
thought  to  have  possessed  dogmatic  value  as  com- 
bating the  notion  of  an  abstract  and  sterile  monotheism. 
Akin  to  'Elohim  may  be  the  name  'EL,  which  is 
sometimes  found  in  poetry,  but  scarcely  ever  in  prose. 
The  root-meaning  of  the  word  is  apparently  'the  strong 
one/  and  the  fact  of  its  appearing  in  old  proper  names, 
e.  g.  Methusael,  Ishmael,  or  Bethel,  points  to  its 
being  the  most  primitive  Hebrew  designation  of  God3. 
With  respect  to  the  name  ' Eloah,  the  singular  of 
'Elohim,  some  scholars  hold  that  it  corresponds  to  'EL 
as  a  subjective  to  an  objective  designation  :  'El,  the 
absolutely  strong  one,  being  regarded  by  man  as 
'Eloah,  the  object  of  man's  dread4.  Finally,  the 
phrase  'EL^Elyon,  (  Most  High  God' — a  title  which 
has  Phoenician  affinities5 — implies  the  relative  tran- 
scendence or  elevation -of  the  Deity,  and  it  has  been 
surmised  that  the  use  of  this  name  in  the  passage 
relating  to  Melchizedek  (Gen.  xiv.  18)  points  to  the 
early  existence  of  an  ancient  monolatrous  worship  on 
Canaanite  soil 6. 
I  Next  to  these  general  names  comes  the  title  which 

1  See  Riehm,  op.  tit.  pp.  48,  49.     Riehm  questions  the  correctness  of 
the  opinion  that  Klohim  had  originally  the  notion  of  plurality.    He  thinks 
that,  like  other  words,  e.  g.  D^DS?  and  D"1^  it  might  simply  imply  extension, 
mass,  or  fullness.     Darmesteter  makes  a  similar  remark  :    '  Le  pluriel 
Elohim  construit  avec  un  verbe  au  singulier  est  un  fait  de  grammaire  et 
non  de  psychologic  religieuse,  et  ne  prouve  guere  plus  la  multiplicite 
primitive  du  dieu  que  Nous  et  Notre  Majestt  ne  prouvent  la  multiplicity 
des  majestes  humaines ;   bref,  Elohim  est  un  de  naissance  autant  que 
Jahve"  (Les  Prophetes  d }  Israel,  p.  215). 

2  See  Robertson,  Early  Religion  of  Israel,  note  xv   (p.  502).     Cp. 
i  Cor.  viii.  5,  6. 

3  Renan  points  out  the  religious  significance  of  this  fact,  as  attesting  the 
relative  purity  of  the  Hebrew  conceptions  of  deity  (op.  cit.  bk.  i.  ch.  8  init.). 

4  Oehler,  §  36.     Cp.  Riehm,  p.  49.  5  Schuitz,  ii.  130. 
6  Oehler,  §  23,  note  8.     Cp.  Westcott  on  Heb.  vii.  i. 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD          185 

Jis  characteristic  of  the  patriarcha.l_geriod, ' ElShaddafr\ 
There  can  be  no  question  that  the  general  import 
of  the  name  is  correctly  given  in  the  usual  English 
equivalent,  'God  Almighty/  The  idea  conveyed  by  it 
is  that  of  absolute  control  over  the  forces  of  nature 
and  the  course  of  history.  Abraham,  as  the  recipient 
of  Jehovah's  gracious  promises,  may  lean  confidently 
on  Him,  with  full  assurance  that  what  he  hath 
promised  he  is  able  also  to  perform* ;  He  is  unfettered 
either  by  human  perversity,  or  by  the  fixity  of  physical 
laws.  The  appearance  of  this  designation  of  God 
marks  a  significant  advance  in  religious  ideas.  It 
seems  to  imply  the  drawing  of  a  conscious  distinction 
between  the  one  true  omnipotent  God  and  the 
powerless  deities  of  heathendom.  It  corresponds 
to  the  simplicity  and  relative  purity  of  patriarchal 
faith  and  worship  when  compared  with  the  debased 
nature-religion  of  the  Canaanites. 

Specially  distinctive  of  the  Mosaic  period  is  the  title 
which  is  peculiarly  the  Name 3  of  revelation,  Jahveh. 
Into  the  disputed  history  and  origin  of  the  word  there 
is  no  occasion  to  enter  minutely.  It  may  suffice  to 
say  briefly  that  it  appears  to  be  a  genuine  Hebrew 
formation,  directly  connected  with  the  third  person 
singular  imperfect  of  a  verb4.  But  it  is  still  a 
matter  of  some  uncertainty  what  was  the  precise 
significance  of  the  original  verbal  stem ;  whether  the 
form  is  a  Qal  or  a  Hiphil;  and  therefore  whether  the 
word  itself  means  *  the  living  one '  or  *  he  who  causes 
to  be,'  *  the  Creator.'  It  is  noteworthy,  however,  that 
names  derived  from  the  imperfect  tense — such  names, 
for  instance,  as  Jacob  or  Israel — seem  generally,  like 
Latin  formations  ending  in  -tor,  to  indicate  a  constant 
quality  in  the  object  of  which  they  are  predicated. 
There  is  sufficient  reason  on  the  whole  for  accepting 

1  Exod.  vi.  3.     Observe  this  is  according  to  P.  2  Rom.  iv.  21. 

3  Lev.  xxiv.  1 1  :    DETI,  LXX.  ro  oi/o/za. 

4  For  various  accounts  of  the  derivation  see  Riehm,  p.  59  ;  Robertson, 
Early  Religion  of  Israel,  pp.  268  foil.  ;  Renan,  Histoire  dupeuple  d* Israel, 
bk.  i,  ch.  6 ;  Studio,  Biblica,  vol.  i.  pp.  1 1  foil. 


186     PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD    [LECT. 

the  view  that  the  word  means  'he  who  will  be.'  There 
is  an  inevitable  vagueness  in  the  phrase,  but,  as  Prof. 
Robertson  Smith  explains,  it  implies  that '  no  words  can 
sum  up  all  that  Jehovah  will  be  to  His  people1.'  It 
essentially  conveys  the  notion  of  a  living  and  active 
moral  personality.  Jehovah  is  a  personal  being  pos- 
sessed of  definite  will  and  character  ;  free  to  intervene 
in  the  course  of  events,  and  to  enter  into  a  relationship 
of  grace  with  His  creatures;  faithful  to  His  own 
nature,  persistent  and  self-consistent,  an  object,  there- 
fore, on  which  human  hopes  may  securely  rest ;  a  being 
moreover  who,  because  He  truly  is,  is  therefore  holy, 
for  evil  is  only  the  negation  of  true  being.  Id  mahim 
est,  says  Augustine,  deficere  ab  essentia  et  ad  id  tendere 
ut  non  sit 2. 

There  remain  two  Hebrew  titles  of  deity,  ' Adonai 
and  Jahveh  Tsebaoth,  'Jehovah  of  hosts,'  of  which  the 
latter  only  needs  a  word  of  explanation  at  this  point. 
The  name  first  appears  in  the  narrative  of  the  books 
of  Samuel,  a  circumstance  which  suggests  that  it  was 
commonly  associated  with  the  early  fortunes  of  the 
monarchy.  The  original  sense  and  application  of  the 
name  is  disputed,  but  most  probably  its  earliest  appli- 
cation was  to  the  armies  of  Israel  itself,  which  were 
habitually  regarded  as  the  hosts  of  Jehovah,  marching 
under  Him  as  their  captain  and  waging  war  in  His 
name 3.  According  to  this  view  the  title  naturally 
occurs  in  the  early  historical  books,  having  been 
suggested  by  the  warlike  experiences  of  the  exodus 
and  the  entry  into  Canaan. 

Before  we  consider  the  relation  in  which  these 
various  names  of  God  stand  to  one  another,  and  the 
special  importance  of  each  in  the  history  of  revela- 
tion, let  us  pause  to  notice  the  general  conception  of 
revelation  which  they  imply. 

1  Prophets  of  Israel,  lect.  ii,  note  10.      Cp.  Robertson,  Early  Religion 
of  Israel,  p.  286. 

2  de  mor.  Mantch.  ii.  §§  2,  3.     Cp.  Conf.  vii.  12 ;  Ath.  c.  Gent,  iv,  vi. 

3  Cp.  Exod.vii.  4,  xii.  41  ;  Num.  xxi.  14;  I  Sam.xvii.  45.  Cp.  Robertson, 
Early  Religion  of  Israel,  note  16,  p.  503. 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD          187 

In  the  first  place,  the  Old  Testament  witnesses  to 
an  implicit  belief  that  God  approaches  man  inde- 
pendently of  man's  efforts  to  find  God.  The  Hebrew 
idea  of  God  was  simple  and  concrete.  The  Jew 
instinctively  thought  of  Jehovah  as  a  personal  being, 
and  therefore  capable  of  making  communications  to 
man.  A  single  expression  marks  the  gulf  that  parts 
the  ancient  from  the  modern  habit  of  mind.  The 
Hebrew  prophet  speaks  of  *  seeking  God/  not  of  '  seek- 
ing after  truth.'  God  is  already  for  him  an  existing 
personal  being,  the  high  and  lofty  one  that  inhabiteth 
eternity,  whose  name  is  holy 1,  but  who  has  revealed  to 
man  the  conditions  of  entering  into  communion  with 
Himself.  In  a  word,  the  religion  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment has  rather  a  prophetic  than  a  philosophic 
character.  It  is  presupposed  that  God  can  and  does 
speak  to  man  in  language  that  he  is  capable  of  com- 
prehending :  dreams,  visions,  oracles,  theophanies, 
angelic  communications,  prophetic  messages — these 
are  the  usual  media  of  communication  between  God 
and  His  creatures,  and  they  all  point  onwards  to  the 
possibility  of  that  immediate  converse  between  the 
human  spirit  and  the  Spirit  of  God,  which  is  the  goal 
and  crowning-point  of  revelation.  The  childlike 
narratives  of  the  early  history  represents  Jehovah  as 
holding  intercourse  with  His  elect,  talking  with  them 
as  a  man  speaketh  ^^,nto  his  friend*.  In  proportion  as 
the  idea  of  deity  becomes  more  developed  this  kind 
of  language  disappears.  The  distance  is  not  widened 
between  the  Creator  and  His  creatures,  but  the  mode 
of  His  communication  with  them  is  more  spiritually 
conceived.  Throughout  the  Old  Testament,  how- 
ever, there  is  no  change  in  the  general  idea  of  divine 
revelation,  namely,  that  a  self-acquired  knowledge  of 
deity  is  impossible  for  man,  that  the  first  approach 
must  be  made  by  God  Himself,  that  so  much  only  can 
be  known  of  Him  as  He  is  willing  to  manifest  from 
time  to  time  in  the  course  of  history. 

1  Isa.  Ivii.  15.  2  Exod.  xxxiii,  II. 


i88     PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD    [LECT. 

That  Jehovah,  then,  is  a  being  who  communicates 
with  man  is,  for  the  Hebrew,  an  instinctively  drawn 
inference  from  the  belief  in  the  divine  personality. 
That  God  should  enter  into  close  relationships  with 
men,  that  He  should  intimately  associate  Himself  with 
their  tribal  and  family  life,  with  their  traditional 
customs  of  worship,  with  their  joys  and  sorrows,  their 
migrations  and  feuds — this  was  an  integral  element 
in  early  Semitic  belief.  Not  less  habitual  was  the 
ascription  to  deity  of  a  readiness  to  intervene  with 
counsel  in  difficulty,  or  with  an  authoritative  sentence 
in  matters  of  dispute.  There  was  something  in  this 
habit  of  mind  which  manifestly  fitted  the  Semitic  race 
to  be  the  vehicle  of  divine  revelation  to  mankind. 
The  desire  to  know  God  and  to  hold  fellowship  with 
Him  was  a  natural  basis  on  which  the  fabric  of 
revealed  religion  could  be  built  up.  Imbued  with  the 
sense  of  a  close  antecedent  relation  to  God,  determin- 
ing his  tribal  status  and  his  social  duties,  the  primitive 
Semite  displayed  an  habitual  inclination  to  explore 
the  purposes  and  to  ascertain  the  will  of  the  powerful 
being  to  whom  he  felt  himself  so  closely  bound  and 
so  irresistibly  attracted.  Hence  doubtless  it  is  that 
soothsaying  and  prophecy,  whether  in  its  lower  or 
,[  higher  forms,  are  so  constant  a  phenomenon  in  Semitic 
Jl  religion1.  It  seemed  entirely  natural  that  the  deity 
should  converse  with  man,  that  He  should  employ 
human  organs  in  the  declaration  of  His  will,  that  by 
secret  communications  of  His  Spirit  He  should  impart 
that  knowledge  of  His  nature  and  requirement  which 
constitutes  the  true  life  of  man. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Old  Testament  teaches 
that  the  faculty  which  apprehends  the  divine  com- 
munications is  moral  rather  than  intellectual.  What 
differentiates  Hebrew  prophecy  from  heathen  mantic 
is  not  only  its  actual  content,  but  the  moral  conditions 
which  it  presupposes.  The  power  of  prophecy  implies 
as  its  basis  the  life  of  friendship  with  God,  and  friend- 
1  Riehm,  ATI.  Theologie,  p.  46. 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD          189 

ship  can  only  exist  where  there  is  likeness  in  character 
and  aim.  The  religion  of  Israel  tends  ever  more 
completely  to  exclude  the  ethnic  notion  of  inspiration 
divorced  from  morality.  Spiritual  insight  is  the  out- 
come of  the  fear  of  God — a  fear  which  is  no  mere 
slavish  emotion  of  abject  dependence  or  terror,  but 
a  principle  of  practical  wisdom l  and  a  faculty  of 
spiritual  perception,  discerning  in  all  things  the  divine 
purpose  and  in  all  action  guided  by  the  divine  will 2. 
Such  fear  involves  the  renunciation  of  self-conceit. 
Lean  not,  says  the  Hebrew  sage,  unto  thine  own 
understanding.  Be  not  wise  in  thine  own  eyes  3.  And 
Jeremiah  insists  even  more  emphatically.  Let  not  the 
wise  man  glory  in  his  wisdom, .  . .  but  let  him  that  glorieth 
glory  in  this,  that  he  understandeth  and  knoweth  me, 
that  I  am  the  Lord  which  exercise  lovingkindness, 
judgment^  and  righteousness  in  the  earth 4.  Thus  the 
inspired  wisdom  of  the  Old  Testament  anticipates  the 
teaching  of  the  New,  in  laying  down  two  main  condi- 
tions under  which  alone  a  true  knowledge  of  God  is 
possible  for  man.  First,  human  faculties  cannot  reach 
a  deity  who  hides  himself ;  religion,  the  life  of  friend- 
ship between  the  human  heart  and  God,  is  impossible 
except  on  the  basis  of  a  divine  self-communication. 
And,  secondly,  the  capacity  to  know  God  is  a  morale 
quality ;  inspiration  and  revelation  are  the  correlative  / 
aspects  of  a  moral  relationship  subsisting  between  ( 7 
God  and  man,  God  making  His  communications  to  ( 
a  being  whose  power  of  response  primarily  depends  on 
the  condition  of  his  heart  and  will,  on  the  degree  I 
of  his  moral  sympathy  with  his  holy  Creator. 
*}  We  may  now  consider  somewhat  more  in  detail 
f  the  revelation  of  God  in  which  the  several  names 
|  above  mentioned  seem  to  mark  distinct  and  definite 
!  stages. 

The  general  names,  *El, ' Elohim, '  Eloah,  'El  'Ely on, 
which  were  apparently  common   among  the  Semitic 

1  Cp.  Prov.  ix.  10.     See  Oehler,  §  240. 

2  Cp.  Prov.  iii.  6.  3  Prov.  iii.  5,  7.  4  Jer.  ix.  23,  24. 


190     PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD    [LECT. 

tribes,  correspond  to  that  vague  and  undefined  con- 
ception of  deity  which  would  be  natural  at  a  primitive 
stage  of  civilization.  'Elohim  is  a  power  who  tran- 
scends nature  and  man,  who  is  elevated  above  the 
limitations  of  the  visible  universe.  The  title  seems 
to  concentrate  in  a  single  term  all  that  may  be  known 
of  God  by  contemplation  of  the  universe,  regarded 
as  H  is  handiwork 1.  'Elohim  is  the  Creator  mani- 
festing His  wisdom  and  omnipotence  in  all  the  varied 
processes  of  nature  which  at  the  same  time  He 
transcends.  From  the  first,  the  use  of  the  name  in 
Hebrew  religion  served  to  exclude  pantheistic  con- 
ceptions of  deity.  The  notion  of  transcendence,  how- 
ever, came  to  be  more  distinctly  conveyed  by  the  rare 
'El  *  Ely  on,  '  God  Most  High,'  a  name  which  distin- 
guishes the  one  true  God  from  other  conceivable 
' Elohim.  Speaking  generally,  this  entire  group  ofj 
terms  may  be  described  as  universalistic  in  their^ 
connotation.  They  indicate  the  relation  of  God  to 
all  that  He  has  made,  as  its  creator  and  sustainer. 
Thus  when  creatures  other  than  man  are  repre- 
sented as  speaking,  they  employ  the  term  'Elohim 2. 
Again,  it  has  been  observed  by  scholars  that  'Elohim, 
as  the  title  of  God  most  frequently  employed  in 
post-exilic  days,  is  a  symbol  of  the  increasingly 
spiritual  and  transcendental  conceptions  of  God 
which  the  teaching  of  later  prophecy  displays  3.  The 
tendency  of  religion  at  this  period  was  to  exalt  the 
deity  to  a  point  where  He  stood  far  removed  from 
contact  with  the  world,  and  consequently  to  describe 
Him  in  abstract  and  general  terms.  '  The  names 
God  of  heaven,  Most  High  God  begin  to  be  used,  and 

1  Cp.  Rom.  i.  19.  2  e.  g.  Judges  ix.  9. 

3  Renan  strangely  regards  the  name  Jahveh  as  representing  a  lower 
stage  of  faith  than  Elohim.  '  The  religious  progress  of  Israel  will  be 
found  to  consist  in  reverting  from  Jahveh  to  Elohim,  ...  in  stripping  him 
of  his  personal  attributes  and  leaving  him  only  the  abstract  existence  of 
Elohim'  (Histoire  du  peiiple  d' 'Israel,  bk.  i.  ch.  6).  'The  history  of 
Israel,'  he  says  elsewhere  (bk.  ii,  ch.  5),  '  was  an  effort  continued  through 
long  ages  to  shake  off  the  false  god  Jahveh,  and  to  return  to  the  primitive 
Elohim.' 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD          191 

are  even  put  into  heathen  mouths  V  The  covenant- 
name  Jehovah  is  withdrawn,  as  if  a  reluctance  had 
gradually  arisen  to  name  the  living  God,  or  perhaps 
a  vague  dread  of  dishonouring  His  awful  majesty2. 
But  a  providential  purpose  may  be  discerned  in  what 
might  at  first  sight  seem  to  be  a  retrogression. 
The  revival  of  these  primitive  titles  'Elohim  and  'EL 
' ' Elyon  has  a  theological  significance  in  so  far  as  they 
bear  witness  to  a  redemptive  purpose  of  God  extend- 
ing beyond  the  pale  of  His  covenant  with  Israel.  In 
the  third  book  of  the  psalter,  for  example,  the  use  of 
the  word  'Elohim  was  perhaps  designed  by  the  compiler 
to  counteract  the  exclusive  temper,  which  was  Israel's 
peculiar  danger  in  the  age  subsequent  to  the  return 
from  Babylon.  A  good  instance  of  the  same  point  is 
furnished  by  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes.  Here  'Elohim 
is  the  solitary  title  of  deity  employed ;  and  the  divine 
nature  is  described  in  such  general  terms  as  might 
awaken  a  response  in  the  heathen  conscience.  While 
' Elohim  testifies  to  the  providential  regard  of  the  God 
of  Israel  for  the  Gentile  world,  the  names  'Creator' 
and  'Judge'  would  suggest  a  character  and  function 
already  ascribed  to  deity  by  the  higher  spirits  of 
heathendom.  The  name  ' Elohim,  corresponding  to  the 
Greek  title  TO  6elov,  would  constitute  one  of  those 
links  between  the  religion  of  Israel  and  the  higher 
thought  of  the  Hellenic  world  on  which  the  future 
spread  of  Christianity  so  largely  depended.  Indeed, 
in  the  system  of  Philo  the  later  Jewish  mode  of  con- 
ceiving the  deity  easily  coalesces  with  the  transcendental 
tendencies  of  Platonism. 

The  name  'El  Shaddai,  '  God  Almighty,'  is  repre- 
sented by  the  priestly  document  in  the  Pentateuch  as 
characteristic  of  the  first  stage  in  redemptive  history  3. 

1  See  Neh.  ix.  32  foil. ;  Ezra  i.  2  ;  2  Chron.  xxxvi.  23  (Schultz,  vol.  ii. 
p.  114). 

2  To  blaspheme  the  Name  was  to  blaspheme  God  as  He  had  revealed 
Himself  through  Moses  to  His  people.     See  Lev.  xxiv.  n,  16. 

3  Gen.  xvii.  i,  xxviii.  3,  xxxv.  n  ;  Exod.  vi.  3.     The  name  Shaddai  is 
also  characteristic  of  the  book  of  Job.    See  Driver  on  Joel,  p.  81. 


TQ2      PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD     [LECT. 

It  denotes  a  divine  power  to  control  or  overrule 
nature  in  the  interests  of  a  providential  purpose.  It  is 
'El  Shaddai  who  makes  childless  Abraham  the  father 
of  many  nations,  and  supports  him  in  his  loneliness 
among  the  heathen.  The  expression  obviously  marks 
tan  advance  beyond  the  notion  that  the  deity  is  merely 
strong  or  powerful  (El),  for  it  suggested  the  higher 
jmoral  attributes  of  God  to  which  His  omnipotence 
as  subject.  'El  Shaddai  was  a  name  that  prepared 
the  way  for  the  notion  of  grace.  '  Grace/  observes 
Delitzsch,  *  always  raises  itself  on  the  foundation  of  the 
natural  after  it  has  destroyed  it;  thus  the  body  of 
Abraham  must  become  as  good  as  dead  before  he  could 
become  the  father  of  the  son  of  promise  V  It  is  an 
instructive  circumstance  that  in  the  hymn  of  the 
blessed  Virgin  the  thought  contained  in  'El  Shaddai 
recurs.  He  lhat  is  mighty  (6  iwaros)  hath  done  to  me 
great  things,  and  holy  is  his  name'2'.  Finally,  while 
the  title  lifts  the  conception  of  God  high  above  old 
polytheistic  associations,  it  also  confirms  the  tradition 
that  the  foundations  of  the  true  religion  had  already 
been  securely  laid  in  the  pre-Mosaic  period.  'El 
Shaddai  had  manifested  Himself  in  the  separation  of 
Abraham  from  the  falsities  of  encompassing  idolatry, 
in  the  guidance  and  protection  vouchsafed  to  him 
during  a  long  and  chequered  career,  in  the  gift  of  a  son 
when  the  patriarch  was  far  advanced  in  years,  in  the 
gracious  promises  made  to  him  and  to  his  seed.  And 
all  these  blessings  were  tokens  not  only  of  God's 
favour,  but  also  of  His  all-sufficing  power. 

There  is  another  title  of  God  which  we  are  justified 
in  considering  at  this  point,  inasmuch  as  it  represents 
the  subjective  aspect  of  the  truth  implied  \VL  El Shaddai^ 
I  mean  the  name  'Adonai,  '  My  lord.'  This  name 
appears  to  express  thlT" temper  of  trustful  depend- 
ence ;  the  consciousness  of  being  linked  to  God  by 
a  tie  which  constitutes  a  continual  claim  on  the 

1  Old  Test.  History  of  Redemption,  §  16.    Cp.  Rom.  iv.  19;  Heb.  xi.  12. 

2  St.  Luke  i.  49. 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD         193 

divine  bounty  and  protection.  The  term  '  Lord ' 
(A  don)  is  specially  used  in  connexion  with  two  kinds 
of  relationship  :  that  of  wife  to  husband,  and  that  of 
servant  to  master1.  It  is  not  uncommon  in  pro- 
phecy2. There  are  some  indications  that  in  the  pre- 
prophetic  period  the  term  Baal,  '  Master/  '  Owner/  or 
4  Lord/  was  occasionally  used  in  the  same  connexion, 
but  it  was  naturally  repudiated  when  the  worship  of 
Jehovah  under  this  title  had  become  merged  in  the 
local  cults  of  the  Canaanitish  Baalim*.  The  name 
'Adonai  implies  that  man's  relationship  to  God  is 
one  of  loving  trust  rather  than  of  fear.  In  it,  says 
a  recent  writer,  '  was  couched  a  strong  ethical  motive, 
which  becomes  influential  in  Christian  ethics,  being 
accentuated  especially  in  the  Pauline  theology  ; .  .  .  the 
Old  Testament  saint  delighted  to  call  God  by  the 
name  that  helped  him  to  realize  that  he  was  both  the 
subject  and  the  property  of  his  Lord4.' 

We  now  pass  to  the  most  important  and  distinctive 
designation  of  God  in  the  Old  Testament.  The 
name  Jehovah  (JahveK)  may  be  considered  in  itself 
and  in  its  relation  to  the  names  of  deity  already 
discussed.  The  title  connotes  primarily  that  which 
differentiates  the  nature  of  God  from  the  changeable- 
ness  and  dependence  of  created  being.  Jehovah  is 
absolutely  self-subsistent  and  independent.  With 
Him  is  the  fountain  of  life  ;  He  has  life  in  Himself. 
Further,  the  name  points  to  the  future.  Jehovah 
is  one  whose  intercourse  with  the  human  race  is 
continuous,  living,  and  progressive.  He  is  a  personal 
being  who  in  free  self-determination  can  manifest 
Himself  to  man  according  as  His  purpose  may  re- 
quire, whether  in  a  moral  law,  or  in  deeds  of  power, 
or  in  acts  of  forgiveness  and  beneficence.  Thus, 

1  Cp.  Jukes,  The  Names  of  Gcd,  pp.  114  foil. 

2  TIK    Isa.  vi.    i,  xxi.   16,   xxix.   13.      fHKn  Isa.  x.  16,  33,  &c.     Cp. 
Schultz,  ii.  129. 

3  Cp.  Hos.  ii.  8,  13  ;  and  see  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites, 
p.  95  ;  and  Robertson,  Early  Religion  of  Israel,  pp.  171-173. 

4  W.  S.  Bruce,  Ethics  of  the  0.  T.  p.  44. 

O 


194     PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD    [LECT. 

when  contrasted  with  'EloMm,  the  title  signifies  a  being 
who  continuously  unveils  Himself  in  history,  as  opposed 
to  a  supra-mundane  power  once  for  all  manifested  in 
nature ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  title  supplements  the 
thought  of  omnipotent  power  (El  Shaddai]  by  that  of 
covenantal  love.  The  notion  of  grace  from  the  first 
qualifies  the  attributes  of  a  merely  national  deity. 
The  appellations  which  the  heathen  gave  to  their 
deities,  Baal,  Milcom,  and  the  like,  point  to  little 
more  than  a  relationship  of  abject  dependence.  The 
title  Jehovah,  on  the  contrary,  implies  that  God's 
dealings  with  His  people  are  not  those  of  mere 
arbitrary  sovereignty,  but  those  of  covenantal  love  1. 
And  at  this  point  let  us  observe  the  special  signifi- 
cance of  the  fact  that  it  is  in  connexion  with  this  name 
that  anthropomorphic  expressions  are  most  frequently 
employed.  The  personality  of  God  is  emphasized  by 
phrases  borrowed  from  the  common  actions  and 
bodily  motions  of  men.  We  hear  of  the  '  mouth '  of 
Jehovah  speaking,  the  'hand*  of  Jehovah  being  out- 
stretched, the  'voice'  of  Jehovah  shaking  the  wilder- 
ness, the  'eyes'  of  Jehovah  running  to  and  fro 
through  the  whole  earth.  *  The  Old  Testament  writers/ 
says  Schultz,  '  speak  like  materialists,  simply  because 
they  have  not  yet  clearly  apprehended  the  distinction 
between  spirit  and  matter  V  What  they  are  concerned 
to  maintain  is  something  more  important  for  religion 
than  any  philosophical  or  speculative  conception  of 
Godhead,  namely,  the  truth  that  the  Creator  is  a  living 
person  who  thinks,  purposes,  wills,  and  chooses  3.  They 

1  Kittel,  Hist,  of  the  Hebrews,  vol.  i.  p.  246.     Renan,  Histoire  du  peuple 
&  Israel,  bk.  i,  ch.  3,  remarks  that  '  religious  abjection  was  repulsive '  to 
the  primitive  Semites  '  and  this  fine  feeling  afterwards  brought  its  reward.' 

2  O.  T.  Theol.  ii.  107. 

3  Riehm,  A  77.   Theologie,  p.  61  :    '  Dass  nun  Jahve   Personenname 
des   Gottes   Israels  ist   und    die    Vorstellung   Gottes    als   eines  freien, 
selbstbewussten    und    sich    selbst    bestimmenden   Ichs    mit    ihm    sich 
verkniipft,  dafur  ist  ein  augenfaLiges  Zeugniss,  dass  mit  diesem  Gottes- 
namen  in  der  Regel  die  Anthropomorphismen  und  Anthropopathismen 
.  .  .  verbunden  sind,  wahrend  sich  Elohini  in  solcher  Verbindung  selten 
findet.'    Origen  defends  the  anthropopathic  language  of  Scripture  against 
Celsus  as  illustrating  the  divine  condescension.     See  c.  Cels.  iv.  71  :  'As 


iv]      PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD         395 

interpret  deity  by  the  highest  category  within  their 
reach,  and  though  their  phraseology  is  sometimes 
incongruous,  it  is  perfectly  consistent  with  their  purely 
religious  aim  and  interest.  It  is,  moreover,  significant 
that  precisely  in  those  later  passages  of  the  Old 
Testament  which  insist  most  impressively  upon  the 
divine  transcendence  and  freedom  from  the  limita- 
tions of  creaturely  existence,  we  find  the  most  unre- 
stricted use  of  anthropomorphic  language.  In  no 
other  way  could  the  fundamental  postulate  of  Hebrew 
religion,  the  personality  of  God,  be  clearly  enforced ; 
while  from  the  Christian  standpoint  the  habitual 
employment  of  such  phraseology  may  be  regarded  as 
an  element  in  the  educational  process  by  which  humanity 
was  being  prepared  for  the  advent  of  the  Word  made 
flesh. 

The  name  Jehovah,  then,  embraces  all  that  God  has 
made  known  of  Himself  in  His  successive  dealings 
with  His  chosen  people;  the  content  of  it,  so  to 
speak,  is  unfolded  by  the  advancing  experience  of 
the  faithful.  Thus  it  happens  that  the  compilers 
of  the  records  of  revelation  occasionally  seem  to  make 
a  point  of  identifying  Jehovah  with  other  manifesta- 
tions of  the  divine  Being.  In  the  phrase  Jehovah 
Elohim,  which  is  characteristic  of  a  small  section  of  the 
Pentateuch  *,  and  is  frequently  employed  by  Ezekiel, 
Jehovah  is  identified  with  the  Creator  of  the  universe; 
in  the  expression  Jehovah  God  most  high  2,  Jehovah 
is  acknowledged  to  be  supreme  in  majesty  and  in  His 
claim  to  Israel's  homage  and  adoration.  To  Hagar, 

we  ourselves  when  talking  with  very  young  children  do  not  aim  at 
exerting  our  own  power  of  eloquence,  but,  adapting  ourselves  to  the 
weakness  of  our  charge,  both  say  and  do  those  things  which  may  appear 
to  us  useful  for  the  correction  and  improvement  of  the  children  as 
children;  so  the  Word  of  God  appears  to  have  dealt  with  the  history, 
making  the  capacity  of  the  hearers,  and  the  benefit  which  they  were  to 
receive,  the  standard  of  the  appropriateness  of  its  announcements 
[respecting  God].'  In  de  Orat.  xxiii.  he  says  that  the  passages  which 
ascribe  corporeal  acts  or  conditions  to  deity  p.€Ta\r)TTeov  Trpen-oj/rco?  rats 
/ieyaAaiy  Kai  nvfv/j,aTiKnl.s  evvoiais  Trepl  deov.  Cp.  Novatian,  de  Tnn.  vi-ix. 
1  Gen.  ii.  and  iii. ;  Exod.  ix.  30.  2  Gen.  xiv.  22. 

O  2 


196     PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD     [LECT. 

Abraham's  bondmaid,  Jehovah  manifests  Himself  as 
the  living  one  who  seeth1".  This  wonderful  expres- 
sion is  one  which  makes  us  pause.  The  living  one2!  the 
home  and  source  of  life,  the  being  whose  will  is  that 
all  His  creatures  should  share  in  His  inexhaustible 
fullness  of  life,  who  is  utterly  separated  from  all  that 
is  dead,  or  formal,  or  mechanical  or  unspiritual 3. 
Such  passages  as  Psalm  cxv,  or  Isaiah  xliv,  develope  in 
detail  the  thought  of  the  measureless  interval  that 
parts  Jehovah  from  idols,  the  work  of  meris  hands. 
Nor  is  Jehovah  only  a  living  person ;  He  is  'El  'Olam 4, 
*  the  everlasting  God/  unchangeable  in  character, 
persistently  fulfilling  His  purpose  of  grace  throughout 
age-long  dispensations  of  mercy  and  power.  It  corre- 
sponds with  the  thought  of  the  continuity  of  Jehovah's 
work  that  He  is  described  by  titles  which  define  His 
^special  relation  to  the  elect  people.  He  is  the  God 
<of  Shem,  God  of  the  Hebrews,  God  of  the  fathers,  God  of 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob — phrases  which  seem  to 
imply  that  the  worship  of  Jehovah  was  already  tradi- 
tional before  the  time  of  Moses.  Nor  must  we  over- 
look the  expression  which  is  the  very  charter  of  the 
{Mosaic  religion,  Jehovah  the  God  of  Israel.  The 
more  developed  form  of  this  last  title,  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel,  has  special  importance  as  marking  a  stage  in  the 
evolution  of  Israel's  faith  into  a  universal  religion, 
a  moment  of  transition  when  the  idea  of  Jehovah's 
uniqueness  as  the  object  of  Israel's  devotion  passes 
into  that  of  His  moral  perfection  as  revealed  in  the 
Law  and  in  the  work  of  grace.  First  employed,  as  it 
would  seem,  by  Isaiah,  the  name  gathers  up  all  that 
Israel  might  have  learned  touching  the  character  of 

1  Gen.  xvi.  13,  14. 

2  Cp.  Josh.  iii.  10  ;  I  Sam.  xvii.  26,  36  ;  Deut.  iv.  28  ;  v.  26  ;  Ps.  xxxvi. 
9  ;  xlii.  2,  8  ;  Jer.  ii.  13  ;  x.  10,  &c.     Cp.  the  phrase  The  Lord  liveth. 

3  Contrast  the  frequent  phrase  applied  to  idols,  DvvM.     Lev.  xix.  4  ; 
Ps.  xcvii.   7;    Isa.  ii.    18,    20;   x.  10 ;   xix.   i,  3;    Ezek.   xxx.    13.      Cp. 
Ps.  cvi.  28. 

4  Gen.  xxi.  33.      Cp.  Jukes,  Names  of  God,  pp.   138-141.      See  also 
Ps.  xc.  2  ;   i  Tim.  i.  17. 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD          197 

Jehovah  in  the  pre-prophetic  period :  His  love  in 
separating  unto  Himself  a  peculiar  people,  His  moral 
requirement  revealed  in  the  Law,  His  abhorrence  of 
ceremonial  worship  divorced  from  righteous  conduct. 
When  it  was  first  proclaimed,  the  name  served  a 
double  purpose :  it  was  intended  at  once  to  alarm  and 
to  console.  Jehovah's  holiness  was  a  principle  which 
must  assert  itself  at  once  in  the  chastisement  of  Israel's 
sins,  and  in  the  overthrow  of  their  oppressors  1. 

The  above  illustrations  sufficiently  prove  that 
in  the  view  of  the  Old  Testament  writers  Jehovah 
can  only  be  fully  apprehended,  under  a  large  diver- 
sity of  names  or  attributes  ;  and  it  has  been  truly 
remarked  that  this  very  fact  implies  that  Jewish 
monotheism  is  not  of  a  bare  and  merely  abstract 
character,  like  the  doctrine  of  Islam.  *  The  idea  of 
God  is  not  a  bare  unit';  the  divine  nature  'involves 
diversity  as  well  as  unity2';  and  from  the  idea  of 
a  diversity  of  external  relationships,  a  short  step  leads 
to  the  conception  of  a  being  who  possesses  in  the 
fullness  of  His  own  self-sufficing  life  interna^j^latian- 
ship  of  love. 

/There  appear  to  be  successive  stages  discernible  in 
he  manifestation  of  Jehovah's  attributes.  As  we  have 
already  seen,  He  is  revealed  first  as  'holy,'  that  is, 
absolutely  'separate'  from  the  world;  and  by  His 
gracious  severance  of  Israel  from  Egypt  He  consecrates 
to  Himself  a  people  to  share  His  holiness.  Ye  shall 
be  holy  imto  me:  for  I  the  Lord  am  holy,  and  have 
severed  you  from  other  people,  that  ye  should  be  mine 3. 
Under  the  discipline  of  the  Law,  which  awakened  and 
educated  the  sense  of  moral  shortcoming,  the  prophetic 
spirit  in  Israel  gradually  elucidated  the  ethical  mean- 
ing of  holiness  as  involving  separation  from  sin. 
But  already,  at  an  early  point  in  the  history,  an 
explicit  manifestation  of  Jehovah's  character  was 
elicited  by  the  very  fact  of  Israel's  unfaithfulness.  It 

1  Cp.  Kirkpatrick,  The  Doctrine  of  the  Prophets,  pp.  175  foil. 

2  Caird,  The  Philosophy  of  Religion,  p.  312.  3  Lev.  xx.  26. 


198     PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD    [LECT. 

should  be  noticed  that  the  wonderful  declaration  of  the 
Name  of  Jehovah  recorded  in  Exod.  xxxiv,  stands 
in  close  connexion  with  the  account  of  Israel's  first 
signal  act  of  apostasy,  the  making  of  the  golden  calf. 
The  exact  nature  and  degree  of  the  nation's  guilt 
in  this  matter  is  not  a  point  which  concerns  us  here. 
It  is  sufficiently  evident  that  the  compiler  of  the 
narrative  intended  to  suggest  a  close  connexion 
between  Israel's  guilt  and  the  self-revelation  of  God 
which  was  occasioned  by  it.  Let  us  devote  a  few 
minutes'  attention  to  the  great  passage  in  question. 
Jehovah,  we  read,  passed  by  before  him,  and  proclaimed, 
Jehovah,  Jehovah  Elohim,  merciful  and  gracious, 
long siiffer  ing,  and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth, 
keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving  iniqidty  and 
transgression  and  sin,  and  that  will  by  no  means  clear 
the  guilty  ;  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon  the 
children,  and  upon  the  children  s  children,  unto  the 
third  and  to  the  fourth  generation  ]. 

Here  are  described  two  sides  of  the  divine  character, 
which  may  be  said  to  constitute  two  permanent  and 
complementary  elements  in  the  Old  Testament  con- 
ception of  God.  On  the  one  hand,  the  passage  ascribes 
to  Jehovah  the  attribute  of  truth  or  righteousness  ;  on 
the  other,  that  of  kindness  or  grace  2. 

"H  i.  First,  then,  Jehovah  is  righteous  and  true3. 
These  two  attributes,  if  not  precisely  synonymous,  do 
at  least  mutually  explain  each  other.  The  attribute  of 
'  righteousness '  denotes  the  moral  exactitude  with 
which  Jehovah  necessarily  acts  and  judges.  He  deals 
with  men  by  rule  and  measure — by  the  standard  of  His 
own  moral  perfection.  He  requites  them  according  to 
their  deeds  ;  He  fulfils  His  purposes  in  perfect  accord- 
ance with  His  threats  and  promises  ;  He  is  ever  mindful 
of  that  which  He  has  pledged  Himself  to  perform, 
ever  true  to  the  character  which  He  has  already 

1  Exod.  xxxiv.  6,  7. 

2  'Die  beiden  entgegengesetzten  Pole  des  Wesens  Gottes.'  (Riehm,p.  62.) 

3  On  pns,  npllf,  see  Schultz,  ii.  152  ;  Gesenius,  Lexicon^  s.  v. 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD          199 

made  known.  The  word  'truth1'  or  'faithfulness' 
answers  to  '  righteousness  '  as  subjective  to  objective, 
implying  the  fidelity,  stability,  dependableness  of  the 
divine  character.  In  Jehovah  man  finds  that  on  which 
he  may  lean  with  confidence,  security,  and  hope.  Faith- 
fulness is,  in  fact,  an  attribute  of  God  before  it  is  an 
element  in  true  human  goodness;  and  there  is  no 
attribute  of  God  more  frequently  alluded  to  and  more 
trustfully  appealed  to,  throughout  the  records  of 
Israel's  troubled  history,  than  this  of  the  divine  faith- 
fulness. It  finds  expression  in  such  ancient  designa- 
tions of  God  as  the  Rock  2.  In  a  world  of  movement 
and  change,  as  contrasted  with  the  transitoriness  and 
mutability  of  man,  the  divine  character  is  fixed,  per- 
manent, and  changeless.  It  is  poetically  likened  to 
those  immense  landmarks  in  nature  which  endure 
when  countless  generations  of  men  are  no  more. 
Thy  righteousness  i  cries  the  psalmist,  is  like  the 
mountains  of  God*.  Nay,  Before  the  mountains  were 
brought  forth,  or  ever  the  earth  and  the  world  were 
made,  thou  art  God  from  everlasting  and  world  with- 
out end.  Thus  the  persistence  and  self-consistency  of 
Jehovah  is  regarded  in  a  moral  light  as  the  necessary 
condition  of  His  moral  government,  and  as  the  stable 
foundation  of  the  divine  kingdom. 

2.  On  the  other  hand,  God  is  gracious  and  merciful, 
full  of  lovingkindness  and  of  pity  for  the  penitent,  the 
suffering,  the  oppressed.  It  is  this  side  of  the  divine 
character  which  manifests  itself  on  the  occasion  of 
Israel's  wilful  apostasy.  It  is  the  deepest  and  most 
enduring  element  in  Jehovah's  nature*.  The  most 
expressive  term  denoting  this  attribute  is  chewed,  'grace' 
or  '  lovingkindness/  which,  though  frequently  applied 
to  man,  belongs  primarily  to  Jehovah  5.  One  of  the 


,  HJIDN.     Cp.  Schultz,  ii.  156. 

2  "TO.     See  especially  Deut.  xxxii.  4  ;  cp.  Num.  i.  5,  6,  10;  iii.  35. 

3  Ps.  xxxvi.  6.     Cp.  xc.  2. 

4  Cp.  Robertson,  Early  Religion  of  Israel,  pp.  323  foil.  ;  Schultz,  ii.  159. 

5  As  applied  to  man,  IDH  means  (i)  the  piety  or  covenant-love  of  Israel 
towards  Jehovah,  (2)  brotherly  kindness  between  man  and  man. 


200     PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD     [LECT. 

first  of  the  eighth-century  prophets,  Hosea,  conceives 
of  Israel's  entire  history  as  a  love-story.  The  only 
metaphor  which  can  express  the  tenderness  of 
Jehovah's  dealings  with  His  wayward  people  is 
borrowed  from  the  marriage-tie.  God's  love  for 
Israel  has  been  like  that  of  a  husband  for  the  erring 
wife  of  his  youth.  But  the  conception  of  the  divine 
lovingkindness  was  broadened  by  experience.  It  came 
to  be  understood  that  the  attribute  was  proper  to 
Jehovah,  not  merely  as  Israel's  God,  but  as  Creator. 
The  glory  and  beauty  of  creation,  the  providential  care 
displayed  towards  even  the  lowest  creatures,  testified 
to  the  creative  goodness  and  compassion  of  God  ;  in 
the  book  of  Jonah  the  divine  pity  is  extended  even  to 
the  heathen  world,  which  Israel  held  in  such  abhor- 
rence, Indeed,  as  Israel's  religious  consciousness 
developed,  it  came  to  be  understood  that  the  most 
fundamental  and  far-reaching  attribute  in  the  character 
of  Jehovah  was  lovingkindness.  This  seems  to  be 
clearly  proved  by  the  frequency  with  which  the  great 
passage  in  Exodus  is  alluded  to  in  other  books  of  the 
Old  Testament.  Three  of  the  minor  prophets,  Jonah, 
Micah,  and  Nahum,  are  linked  together  by  their 
common  interest  in  it l ;  and  in  such  a  psalm  as  the 
hundred  and  third,  its  characteristic  teaching  is  beauti- 
fully and  richly  expanded. 

It  is  a  direct  consequence  of  Jehovah's  love  that  He 
i  is  also  represented  as  jealous2.  Jealousy  in  God  is 
the  zeal  of  outraged  love.  In  the  Mosaic  period  we 
cannot  but  recognize  the  imperfectly  moral  conception 
formed  of  Jehovah's  character.  The  wrathful  and 
fiery  elements  of  the  divine  nature  are  regarded  as  the 
most  prominent.  The  anger  of  J  ehovah  is  kindled  by 
any  infringement  of  covenant-conditions ;  it  blazes 
forth  with  sudden  vehemence  at  the  least  outrage 
done  to  His  honour3.  It  has  even  been  maintained 

1  See  Jonah  iv.  2  ;  Mic.  vii.  18  ;  Nahum  i.  3.     Cp.  Riehm,  p.  63. 

2  &Wp  ?K.     Num.  xxv.  n  ;  Deut.  iv.  24  ;  v.  9  ;  vi.  15,  &c. 

3  Cp.  Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures,  pp.  38,  39 ;   and  see   Robertson 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD          201 

that  the  conception  of  Jehovah  marks  a  retrograde 
step  in  the  evolution  of  the  doctrine  of  God  ;  that 
the  patriarchal  Elohim  is  a  more  benevolent  being 
than  the  Jehovah  of  Moses  and  the  prophets  T. 

It  may  be  replied,  however,  that  the  primitive  idea 
of  Jehovah's  wrath  as  roused  by  even  the  slightest 
disregard  of  His  holiness,  marks  a  necessary  stage  in 
the  education  of  the  human  conscience  ;  it  is  the  first 
step  towards  the  development  of  the  sense  of  sin. 
To  the  prophets  the  anger  of  Jehovah  means  His 
essential  hostility  to  moral  evil ;  they  do  not  think  of 
it  as  lightly  or  quickly  •  aroused  :  they  point  to  a  day 
of  vengeance  in  the  future,  when  the  long-delayed 
judgment  of  God  upon  human  sin  will  be  manifested2. 
But  the  distinctive  point  of  the  prophetic  teaching  is 
that  it  connects  the  wrath  of  Jehovah  with  the  thought 
of  His  covenant-love.  There  are  two  things  by  which 
that  wrath  is  specially  provoked :  the  faithlessness 
or  apostasy  of  His  chosen  people,  and  outrage  done 
to  them  by  others.  Thus  the  metaphor  of  a  marriage- 
bond  subsisting  between  Jehovah  and  His  people 
moralizes  the  older  view  of  the  divine  wrath. 
While  the  prophets  denounced  the  popular  delusion 
of  their  time,  that  in  any  event,  and  apart  from  ethical 
conditions,  Jehovah  was  bound  to  be  on  Israel's  side, 
they  ascribed  to  Him  a  love  for  Israel  that  did  not 
exclude,  but  rather  demanded,  the  occasional  display 
of  His  holy  indignation.  While,  however,  earlier 
prophets  dwell  chiefly  on  the  thought  of  divine 
jealousy  as  provoked  by  Israel's  sin,  Ezekiel  and 
Zechariah  generally  regard  it  as  a  vindication  of 
Jehovah's  personal  honour  and  holiness,  which  is 
bound  up  with  Israel's  fortunes.  Jehovah's  anger  is 
righteous  jealousy  on  behalf  of  those  whom  He  has 
received  into  covenant  union  with  Himself.  Whoso- 

Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  147;  Robertson,  Early  Religion  of 
Israel,  p.  298. 

1  See  Darmesteter,  Les  Prophetes  d' Israel,  p.  213  ;  Renan,  Histoire  du 
peuple  d' Israel,  bk.  i.  ch.  13. 

2  Cp.  Isa.  xxxiv.  8  ;  Ixi.  2  ;  Ixiii.  4  ;  Ps.  xciv.  i. 


202     PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD     [LECT. 

ever  touches  them  touches  the  apple  of  his  eye1.  His 
holiness  has  been  profaned  by  the  exile  of  His  people  ; 
He  has  been  reproached  as  though  He  were  unable  or 
unwilling  to  protect  His  chosen.  But  he  has  pity  for 
His  holy  name,  and  accordingly  He  promises  to 
deliver  Israel  from  captivity,  and  so  to  sanctify  His 
great  name,  which  was  profaned  among  the  heathen  2. 
Thus  since  lovingkindness  is  the  dominant  element  in 
the  being  of  God,  the  manifestation  of  His  indigna- 
tion against  Israel's  sin  is  only  a  transient  stage  in 
His  dealings  with  His  chosen.  In  wrath  Jehovah 
remembers  His  mercy.  For  a  small  moment  have 
I  forsaken  thee ;  but  with  great  mercies  will  I  gather 
thee.  In  a  little  wrath  I  hid  my  face  from  thee  for 
a  moment;  but  with  everlasting  kindness  will  I  have 
mercy  on  thee,  saith  the  Lord  thy  redeemer*. 

We  have  now  considered  the  two  complementary 
sides  or  aspects  of  Jehovah's  revealed  character. 
How  deeply  they  enter  into  the  theology  of  the  Old 
Testament  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  the 
divine  *  kindness '  and  '  truth '  are  habitually  co-ordi- 
nated in  Israel's  hymns  of  praise  and  in  prophetic 
visions  of  the  future.  The  short  Psalm  cxvii,  for 
example,  has  been  said  to  embody  '  the  essence  of  all 
Messianic  psalms/  O  praise  the  Lord,  all  ye  heathen  : 
praise  him,  all  ye  nations.  For  his  merciful  kindness 
is  ever  more  and  more  towards  us :  and  the  truth  of  the 
Lord  endiireth  for  ever  4.  And  we  may  observe  that 
in  the  '  truth '  and  *  kindness '  of  the  Old  Testament 
conception  of  Jehovah  is  contained  a  pledge  and 

1  Zech.  ii.  8.     Cp.  Deut.  xxxii.  21,  22,  36.     The  phrase  'to  be  jealous 
for'  is  apparently  first  used  in  the  prophetic  period;    see  Zech.  i.  14, 
viii.  2. 

2  Ezek.  xxxvi.  21-24.     See  Kirkpatrick,  The  Doctrine  of  the  Prophets, 

PP-  339,  340. 

3  Isa.  liv.  7,  8. 

4  Cp.  Pss.  xl.  10  foil.;   Ixi.  7;  Ixxxv.  10;  Ixxxix.  passim;  cxv.  I,  &c. 
See    the    combination   of  eXeoy   and  d\r)6fia  in   Rom.  xv.   8,  9.     Obs. 
The  abbreviated  form  Jah  expresses  in  a  concentrated  form  all  essential 
elements  of  Jehovah's  revealed  character.     It  is  found  in  Exod.  xv.  2  ; 
Ps.  Ixviii.  4  ;  Isa.  xii.  2,  and  especially  in  the  Hallelu-jah. 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD         203 

prophecy  of  One  in  whom  should  be  manifested 
the  fullness  of  grace  and  truth^ ;  who  should  be 
at  once  the  author  of  a  perfect  redemption  and  of 
a  final  revelation  :  manifesting  God  as  love  and  as 
light. 

There  is  yet  one  more  title  of  God  peculiar  to  the 
Old  Testament  which  needs  some  notice,  viz.  Jehovah 
Tsebaoth.  This  name  seems  to  have  arisen  as  the 
result  of  prolonged  national  experience,  since  it  com- 
memorates the  visible  proofs  which  Jehovah  had 
given  of  His  presence  with  the  armies  of  Israel. 
The  title,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  was  specially  promi- 
nent during  the  period  of  the  monarchy,  the  victories 
of  Israel's  kings  over  the  heathen  being  looked  upon 
as  pledges  of  Jehovah's  sovereignty  over  a  hostile 
world.  It  was  '  a  name  of  memories  and  triumphs/ 
and  perhaps  came  to  be  regarded  as  that  title  of 
Israel's  God  to  which  a  ruined  state  or  church  might 
most  fittingly  appeal  in  times  of  national  distress. 
The  frequency  of  its  occurrence  in  the  writings  of 
Isaiah,  and  in  the  books  of  the  three  post-exilic  minor 
prophets,  is  significant.  There  are,  however,  clear 
tokens  of  expansion  in  the  use  of  the  name  Jehovah 
Tsebaoth  ;  for  while  in  the  early  historical  books  it  has 
military  and  national  associations,  in  the  prophets  it 
includes  the  hosts  of  heaven,  the  stars  and  angels,  as 
well  as  the  armies  of  Israel 2.  The  post-exilic  use  of 
the  title  accordingly  marks  a  striking  advance.  *  The 
old  popular  notion/  says  Prof.  Cheyne,  '  of  a  territorial 
and  local  deity  had  faded  away,  and  the  traditional 
names  of  God  had  received  an  ampler  meaning. 
Jehovah  was  not  merely  the  God  of  the  armies  of 
Israel,  but  the  God  of  all  the  hosts  of  heaven  .  .  .  and 
of  all  the  forces  of  nature.'  Thus,  in  such  a  psalm  as 
the  twenty-fourth,  the  psalmist  *  is  really  thinking  of 
the  triumph  of  the  omnipotent  God  in  His  holy 

1  John  i.  14. 

2  See  Robertson,  Early  Religion  of  Israel,  note  xvi  (p.  503)  ;  Konig, 
The  Religion  of  Israel,  pp.  89  foil. 


204     PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD     [LECT. 

temple.       Who   is   this  King  of  glory  f    Jehovah  of 
hosts,  he  is  the  King  of  glory  V 

X  Within  the  Old  Testament  itself  we  find  a  distinct 
pproach  to  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  fatherhood. 
As  applied  to  God  the  term  'Father'  quickly  loses 
any  physical  associations  that  may  have  originally 
attached  to  it,  and  comes  to  denote  the  relationship 
of  'love  and  moral  communion  in  which  Jehovah  has 
placed  Israel.'  God  is  the  'Father'  or  'Creator' 
of  Israel  in  the  sense  that  by  divine  acts  of  power 
and  grace  He  brought  the  nation  into  special  relation 
to  Himself2;  or  it  is  used  with  a  personal  reference 
to  the  theocratic  king,  who  was  the  official  represen- 
tative of  the  people  and  inherited  the  promises 
originally  vouchsafed  to  David  and  his  house.  It 
seems  to  be  a  title  suggestive  of  the  close  and  con- 
tinuous relationship  in  which  Jehovah  had  stood  to 
Israel ;  it  would  recall  memories  of  divine  protection, 
help,  and  guidance,  and  of  the  condescension  manifested 
in  Israel's  prolonged  spiritual  education  3.  In  the  later 
Judaism  we  mark  an  advance  :  God  is  conceived  as 
a  pitying  Father,  whose  compassion  extends  to  those 
that  fear  Him.  Yea,  like  as  a  father  pitieth  his  own 
children,  even  so  is  Jehovah  merciful  unto  them  that  fear 
him4'.  Yes  ;  but  only  to  those  who  fear  Him.  The 
limitation  is  characteristic.  Judaism  recognizes  indeed 
that  God,  the  Father  of  Israel  as  a  nation,  is  also 
the  Father  of  Israel's  faithful  sons.  The  pious 
Israelite  rejoiced  in  the  sense  of  divine  favour.  '  He 
was  gladly  conscious/  says  Mr.  Montefiore,  *  that  God 
was  cognizant  of  all,  and  cared  not  only  for  His  people 
in  the  mass,  but  for  every  unit  of  which  it  was  com- 
posed 5.'  But  outside  the  pale  of  love  were  the  godless 

1  Aids  to  the  Devout  Study  of  Criticism,  pp.  284,  285. 

2  Cp.  Exod.  iv.  22 ;  Deut.  xxxii.  6  ;  xiv.  2 ;  Hos.  xi.  i. 

3  Cp.  Riehm,  A  77.  Theologie,  p.  227.     Observe  the  title  *  son  '  used  of 
Israel  (Deut.  viii.  5;  xiv.  i  ;  Mai.  i.  6;  Jer.  iii.  19;  xxxi.  10;   Isa.  i.  4; 
xxx.  i,  9)  implies  corresponding  national  obligations.      The   individual 
Israelite  could  not  appropriate  the  name  for  himself. 

4  Ps.  ciii.  13. 

5  Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  463  ;  cp.  pp.  539  foil. 


iv]       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD          205 

members  of  the  nation  itself  and  the  heathen  world  in 
general.  It  was  only  through  the  revelation  of  the 
incarnate  Son  that  men  could  be  brought  to  apprehend 
the  universality  of  the  divine  Fatherhood l.  As 
Tertullian  tersely  remarks,  Nobis  \nomen  Dei~\  revela- 
tum  est  in  Filio. 

In  conclu^in^_t^is^lecture,  let  us  acknowledge  the 
debt  which  theology  owes  to  the  evolutionary  con- 
ception of  Israel's  history  and  theology.  It  seems  to 
be  the  object  of  writers  like  Konig  to  minimize,  or 
even  to  question  altogether,  this  conception.  But  all 
analogy  forbids  us  to  suppose  that  the  religion  of 
Israel  was  revealed  in  its  completeness  from  the 
very  first.  The  metaphors  by  which  in  the  Old 
Testament  God's  relationship  to  Israel  is  described 
point  to  a  very  different  conclusion,  suggesting  a  view 
of  the  divine  action  which  is  at  once  supremely  worthy 
of  God  and  consistent  with  all  that  we  know  of  His 
methods  and  character.  Historical  science  professes 
to  trace  the  process  of  revelation,  and  its  account  in  the 
main  we  can  scarcely  hesitate  to  accept.  The  tribal) 
God  becomes  the  God  of  a  nation,  and  finally  the  Godr 
of  the  universe.  Each  advance  in  man's  moral  recep' 
tivity  renders  possible  a  further  disclosure  of  the 
divine  nature.  All  that  is  debased,  crude,  limited, 
or  ethically  defective  in  the  earliest  Semitic  ideas  of 
deity  gradually  falls  away,  until  in  the  fullness  of  time 
man  is  enabled  to  recognize  the  glory  of  God,  His! 
essential  character,  His  eternal  attributes,  in  the  face\ 
of  Jesus  Christ'2'.  Thus  we  find  that  critical  science 
does,  after  all,  vindicate  for  Jesus  Christ  the  position 
which  He  claims  for  Himself.  He  came  to  crown 
a  long  ascent,  to  fulfil  anticipations  which  His  own- 
Spirit  had  inspired.  In  the  Old  Testament  the  record 
of  the  divine  preparation  for  His  coming  lies  before  us. 
It  describes  the  different  stages  in  the  progressive 
manifestation  of  God  ;  it  exhibits  the  actual  and  living 

1  Cp.  Westcott,  The  Historic  Faith,  p.  35.    Cp.  Tert.  de  or  at.  iii. 

2  2  Cor;  iv.  6.     Cp.  Meinhold,  Jesus  und  das  A.  T.  p.  139. 


206       PROGRESSIVE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD 

operation  of  those  divine  attributes  which  are  now,  as 
ever,  the  hope,  the  support,  and  the  solace  of  the 
individual  soul.  A  gifted  French  writer  has  spoken 
mournfully  of  '  a  cry  which  fills  our  age — the  cry  of  the 
orphan  who  no  longer  possesses  a  Father  in  heaven  to 
speak  to  him  and  guide  him.  It  rings  from  one  end  of 
the  century  to  the  other  ;  it  makes  itself  heard  beneath 
the  tumult  of  wars  and  revolutions,  the  triumphant 
declarations  of  science,  the  sarcasms  of  egotism  and 
scepticism,  the  ceaseless  murmur  of  life  as  it  passes  on 
its  course  V  Nay,  the  truth  of  the  divine  Fatherhood 
is  not  lost.  It  is  overclouded  indeed  and  obscured  by 
the  apparent  rigour  of  Nature,  by  the  discoveries  of 
science,  by  the  appalling  catastrophes  which  sometimes 
overwhelm  us  with  the  sense  of  our  frailty,  our 
ignorance,  our  helplessness.  Nevertheless  in  God, 
God  Almighty,  the  Lord  Jehovah,  the  Father  revealed 
in  the  passion  and  resurrection  of  Jesus,  the  Father 
who  watches  over  even  the  least  of  His  children  with 
wise  providence,  with  discriminating  tenderness,  the 
burdened  and  perplexed  heart  of  man  may  find  refuge 
and  rest.  For  the  divine  self-manifestation,  even  if  it 
fails  to  satisfy  all  our  questionings,  is  at  least  co- 
extensive with  our  needs.  Blessed  indeed  is  he  to 
whom,  as  to  Moses,  the  unfolding  of  the  ineffable 
Name  is  a  fact  of  personal  experience  ;  whose  ear  has 
caught  amid  the  tumults  and  distractions  of  time  the 
accents  of  the  eternal  voice  whispering  to  the  soul, 
/  will  make  all  my  goodness  pass  before  thee,  and 
I  will  proclaim  the  name  of  the  Lord  before  thee ;  and 
will  be  gracious  to  whom  I  will  be  gracmts,  and  will 
show  mercy  on  whom  I  will  show  mercy  2. 

1  Darmesteter,  Les  Prophetes  d' Israel,  pref.  p.  iii. 

2  Exod.  xxxiii.  19. 


LECTURE    V 

Gather  my  saints  together  unto  me;  those  that  have  made  a  covenant 
with  me  by  sacrifice. — Ps.  1.  5. 

BOTH  in  this  psalm,  and  in  some  passages  that  might 
be  quoted  from  the  prophets,  we  observe  how  the 
devout  Israelite  gradually  awoke  to  a  consciousness  of 
those  spiritual  realities  which  were  symbolized  by  the 
external  institutions  of  his  religion.  The  fiftieth 
psalm,  and  perhaps  the  fortieth  and  fifty-first,  seem  to 

imark  a  new  stage  in  the  development  of  inward 
religion,  when  the  practice  of  the  sacrificial  system  had 
already  ceased  in  great  measure  to  satisfy  the  moral 
needs  of  men,  and  had  driven  them  to  reflect  upon  the 
spiritual  truths  which  the  system  was  intended  to 
foreshadow  *.  A  bond  such  as  that  which  the  Israelite 
believed  to  exist  between  his  people  and  Jehovah 
could  be  no  merely  external  link  of  connexion.  It  was 
the  token  of  a  special  relationship  between  personal 
and  moral  beings,  implying  on  one  side  an  act  of 
condescending  grace,  on  the  other  certain  ethical  and 
spiritual  obligations.  And  when  the  Pentateuch  finally 
attained  its  present  form,  the  relation  between  Jehovah 
and  Israel  was  universally  conceived  as  based  upon  an 
original  covenant.  The  deliverance  which  had  resulted 
in  the  formation  of  Israel's  nationality  was  regarded  as 
an  act  of  grace  by  which  the  new  relationship  was 
established.  The  covenant  was  ratified  by  a  sacrifice 
of  victims  and  by  the  ceremonial  sprinkling  of  blood. 
The  people  on  their  part  accepted  the  proffered  con- 

1  Cp.  Cheyne,  Aids  to  the  Devout  Study  of  Criticism,  pp.  194  foil. ; 
Westcott,  Ep.  to  the  Hebrews,  p.  225. 


208  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

ditions  :  all  that  the  Lord  hath  said  will  we  do  and  be 
obedient-,  and  when  the  solemn  formalities  were  finally 
completed,  chosen  representatives  of  the  nation — 
Moses,  Aaron  and  his  two  sons,  together  with  seventy 
of  the  elders  of  Israel — were  admitted  to  a  mysterious 
communion  with  Deity  ;  they  were  called  to  participate 
in  the  feast  and  the  vision  which  were,  so  to  speak, 
a  foretaste  of  the  entrancing  delights  of  the  divine 
kingdom J.  Thus  at  the  very  outset  of  its  national 
history  Israel  was  subjected  to  a  law  of  obedience  as 
the  indispensable  condition  of  fulfilling  its  high  des- 
tiny. It  was  taught  that  covenantal  union  with  God 
demanded  a  special  character  in  man.  The  principle 
was  for  ever  established  that  the  great  link  between 

^> 

God  and  humanity  is  the  moral  law.  The  Mosaic 
Law  thus  retains  an  essential  significance  for  mankind 
in  virtue  of  the  fundamental  idea  which  it  embodies. 
We  may  study  the  Pentateuch  with  a  keen  historical  or 
archaeological  interest,  but  critical  investigations  must 
never  blind  us  to  the  fact  that  the  Law  witnesses 
mainly  to  a  spiritual  truth,  viz.  that  in  the  life  of 
fellowship  between  God  and  man,  moral  obligation  is 
the  master  fact.  The  central  principle  of  the  entire 
levitical  system  is  comprehended  in  the  words,  Ye 
shall  be  holy,  for  I  the  Lord  your  God  am  holy  2. 

At  the  same  time,  no  one,  I  think,  can  read  the 
twenty-fourth  chapter  of  Exodus  without  a  very  strong 
impression  of  its  idealistic  character.  There  are  few 
passages  in  the  Old  Testament  so  mysterious,  so 
sublime,  so  prophetic.  The  bare  mention  of  a  solemn 
slaughter  of  sacrificial  victims  and  of  a  meal  symbolizing 
covenant  fellowship  does  not  carry  us  beyond  the 
limits  of  ordinary  historical  fact.  But  the  description  of 
the  mysterious  vision  of  God  and  of  the  feast  in  His 
presence  can  only  be  a  mode  of  symbolical  repre- 
sentation, foreshadowing  a  future  spiritual  consum- 
mation, recorded  for  our  admonition  who  look  and  wait 
for  a  time  when  his  servants  shall  serve  him  and  shall 

1  Exod.  xxiv.    Cp.  Jer.  vii.  21  foil.  2  Lev.  xix.  2  ;  cp.  xi.  44  ;  xx.  7. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  209 

see  his  face\  when  they  that  are  called  shall  sit  down 
at  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb  l. 

In   the   present  lecture   it  is   proposed  to   consider 

(1)  the    idea    of    covenant    relationship    in    general; 

(2)  the  requirement  which  this  relationship  involved ; 

(3)  the  institutions  in  which  the  spiritual  truths  under- 
lying it  found  a  typical  outward  embodiment;  (4)  the 
fulfilment  of  the  levitical  types  in  Jesus  Christ. 


L 

For  our  present  purpose,  which  is  theological  rather 
than  historical,  the  questions  that  have  been  raised  re- 
specting the  antiquity  of  the  covenantal  idea  in  Israel's 
religion  are  comparatively  unimportant.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  the  Hebrew  tradition  of  an  actual  covenant 
concluded  at  Sinai  between  God  and  Israel  is  constant 
and  unanimous,  nor  does  there  seem  to  be  any  con- 
vincing reason  for  setting  it  aside  in  favour  of  the  idea 
that  the  word  *  covenant '  in  this  connexion  represents 
only  a  later  mode  of  conceiving  the  Sinaitic  revelation. 
Certainly  the  thought  of  Israel's  covenant  status  is 
very  prominent  in  the  mind  of  the  author  of  the 
priestly  document  in  the  Pentateuch.  This  narrative, 
which  forms  the  framework  of  the  whole,  carries  back 
the  tradition  of  a  divinely  instituted  covenant  into  the 
I  dim  prehistoric  past.  It  even  regards  the  relation- 
/ship  of  God  to  the  patriarchs  as  based  in  each  case 
[(upon  a  formal  covenant.  Three  such  compacts 
are  in  fact  mentioned  :  the  first  covenant  with  Noah, 
the  second  with  Abraham,  the  third  with  the  newly- 
formed  nation  of  Israel.  In  each  case  there  is  a  dis- 
tinctive sign.  The  Noachic  covenant  is  attested  by  the 
bow  in  the  cloud ;  the  covenant  with  Abraham  is 
sealed  by  the  rite  of  circumcision ;  the  covenant  with 
Israel  by  the  sprinkling  of  sacrificial  blood.  Moreover, 


1  Rev.  xxii.  3,  4 ;  xix.  9. 
P 


210  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

each  covenant  had  its  characteristic  obligation,  each 
its  accompanying  revelation  of  grace1.  It  is,  in  short, 
evident  that  the  covenantal  idea  was  dominant  at  the 
period  when  the  Pentateuch  was  compiled,  but  there 
seems  to  be  no  sufficient  ground  for  supposing  that  it 
was  unknown  in  pre-prophetic  times.  For  our  present 
purpose,  however,  it  is  immaterial  whether  the  tra- 
ditional view  is  correct,  or  whether  Wellhausen, 
Stade  and  others  are  justified  in  asserting  that  the 
relation  between  Jehovah  and  Israel  was  only  thus 
conceived  first  in  the  prophetic  period 2.  We  are 
concerned  with  the  total  result,  as  embodied  in  the 
Pentateuch,  of  an  historical  movement  which  began 
with  the  exodus.  It  will  be  generally  admitted  that, 
after  the  exodus,  Jehovah  instituted  between  Himself 
and  Israel  a  special  relationship  of  grace,  and  that 
the  historical  severance  from  Egypt  which  consti- 
tuted Israel  the  pecidiar  people  of  Jehovah3,  was 
intended  to  symbolize  an  inward  separation  from  the 
idolatries  and  immoralities  of  the  heathen  world.  The 
question,  however,  respecting  the  mode  under  which 
this  unique  connexion  between  God  and  Israel  was 
conceived  is,  I  repeat,  one  of  secondary  importance. 
Hosea,  although  he  uses  the  word  JT"Q  in  more  than 
one  passage 4,  speaks  of  the  relationship  under  the 
metaphor  of  a  marriage ;  while  occasionally,  like 
Isaiah,  he  represents  it  as  an  act  of  divine  adoption 
whereby  Israel  as  a  nation  became  the  son  of  Jehovah  5. 
Amos,  without  employing  the  term  '  covenant '  in  its 
theological  sense,  gives  prominence  to  the  idea,  in  so 
far  as  he  emphasizes  the  moral  obligations  which  the 
connexion  between  Jehovah  and  Israel  involved.  The 
same  conception  was  probably  emphasized  by  the 
reformation  which  followed  the  publication  of  the 

1  Cp.  Gen.  ix.  1-17  ;  xvii.  1-14;  Exod.  xxiv.  3-8;  xxxi.  13-17. 

2  Weilhausen,  Prolegomena,  417  foil.    Cp.  Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures, 
pp.  124  foil.     See  on  the  other  side,  Konig,  Religion  of  Israel,  ch.  x; 
Robertson,  Early  Religion  of  Israel,  note  xxii,  &c. 

8  DOT  Dy  Exod.  xix.  5.     Cp.  Num.  xxiii.  9. 

*  Hos.  vi.  7  ;  viii.  i.  5  Hos.  xi.  I ;  Isa.  i.  2  ;  cp.  Exod.  iv.  22. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  211 

Deuteronomic  law  in  the  reign  of  Josiah.  There  is 
at  any  rate  no  difficulty  in  accounting  for  the  influence 
of  the  idea  on  the  thought  of  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  and 
the  later  Isaiah,  and  we  may  reasonably  suppose  that 
the  exile  tended  to  popularize  the  conception,  and  to 
foster  the  belief  that  the  continuance  of  Israel's 
covenant  status  depended  upon  the  strict  maintenance 
of  *  holiness '  with  all  that  this  might  imply. 

Such  in  brief  outline  is  the  history,  so  far  as 
it  can  be  certainly  traced,  of  the  idea  of  a  covenant 
between  Jehovah  and  Israel.  The  attempt,  however, 
to  ascribe  its  origination  to  the  prophets  of  the 
eighth  century  seems  to  be  based  on  inconclusive 
arguments.  There  is  good  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
idea  had  its  foundation  in  pre-prophetic  times,  for 
the  prophets  '  plainly  do  not  regard  the  conception  as  an 
innovation/  and  it  harmonizes  entirely  with  the  dis- 
tinctively ethical  character  of  Mosaism.  Further,  the 
thought  constantly  recurs  that  even  the  legal  covenant 
is  essentially  a  work  of  grace,  prepared  for  in  patri- 
archal times  by  a  covenant  of  promise  1.  The  initiative 
comes  from  Jehovah,  who  necessarily  appoints  the 
conditions  upon  the  observance  of  which  the  main- 
tenance of  covenant  union  depends.  It  is  a  'disposition' 
(8ta$7JKTJ)  rather  than  an  '  agreement '  or  contract 
between  two  equal  parties  (owdijiciy] ;  and  its  basis 
is  purely  moral 2.  According  to  the  prophetic  survey 
of  the  national  history  which  we  find  in  the 
book  of  Deuteronomy,  the  covenant  requirement 
was  wholly  contained  in  the  Decalogue  :  These  words 
the  Lord  spake  unto  all  your  assembly  in  the  mount  out 
of  the  midst  of  the  fire,  of  the  cloud,  and  of  the  thick 

1  Cp.  Lev.  xxvi.  42;  Deut.  iv.  31. 

2  Oehler  in   Herzog,  Real-Encyklopddie  s.v.   'Testament':    'Unter- 
scheidet  sich    diadrjurj  von  awOi^i)   dadurch,   dass   bei  jener  kein  rein 
wechselseitiges  Verhaltniss  stattfindet,  sondern  von  einem   der  beiden 
Paciscenten,  als   dem    dmOepevos,   die    Initiative   und    die   Feststellung 
der  Vertragsbedingungen  ausgeht.3     Riehm  points  out  that  in  this  use 
of  diadrjKrj  is  involved  the  possibility  of  a  transition  from   the  thought 
of  a  'covenant'  to   that  of  a  'testament'  (Handworterbuch  des  Bibi. 
AltertumS)  s.v.  '  Bund '). 

P  2 


212  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT.' 

darkness,  with  a  great  voice,  and  he  added  no  more 1. 
The  prophetic  view  manifestly  was  that  the  moral 
element  in  the  Mosaic  system  was  predominant  if  not 
exclusive  ;  that  the  Decalogue,  not  the  ritual  law,  was; 
its  peculiar  characteristic.  It  was  in  fact  the  work  of 
Moses  to  teach  Israel  two  things  :  first,  the  significance 
of  the  revelation  of  God's  nature  and  character  implied 
in  the  events  of  the  exodus ;  secondly,  the  truth  that 
the  vocation  to  be  Jehovah's  people  involved  a  higher 
and  purer  morality.  It  has  been  justly  said  that 
Moses'  work  as  the  originator  of  a  higher  religion 
bears  the  impress  of  '  a  simplicity  analogous  to  the 
simplicity  of  Christ  ?/  The  later  prophets  recognized 
that  they  were  called  to  be  continuators  of  his  mission, 
and  in  looking  back  on  the  forces  which  had  moulded 
Israel's  history,  they  discerned  in  the  moral  law  the 
distinctive  feature  of  the  covenant.  They  strenuously 
endeavoured  to  reinstate  this  law  in  its  original 
position,  and  to  vindicate  its  supremacy  by  applying  it 
as  a  standard  of  measurement  to  the  social  and  poli- 
tical conditions  of  their  age. 

But  behind  the  fact  of  human  obligation  lay 
the  mystery  of  redemptive  love,  deigning  to  enter 
into  relationship  with  man.  It  was  this  high  relation- 
ship that  was  conceived  as  a  covenant,  implying 
as  it  did  both  the  dignity  of  human  nature  and  the 
condescending  grace  of  God.  It  was  in  fact  such 
a  contract  as  can  only  subsist  between  beings  who  are 
united  by  a  pre-existing  kinship  of  nature.  Indeed 
the  covenantal  idea  is  most  aptly  illustrated  by  actual 
examples  of  primitive  contracts  between  man  and  man. 
In  its  essence  a  covenant  did  not  materially  differ 
from  an  oath  ;  both  were  generally  accompanied  by 
symbolic  ceremonies3 ;  both  imposed  mutual  obligations 

1  Deut.  v.  22  ;  cp.  Jer.  vii.  22.  2  Bruce,  Apologetics,  p.  222. 

3  On  the  phrase  rP~Q  JVO  see  Driver  on  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy, 
iv.  13  ;  Delitzsch,  New  Commentary  on  Genesis,  vol.  ii.  pp.  13,  14.  On 
the  relation  between  a  covenant  and  an  oath  see  R.  Kraetzschmar,  Die 
Bundesvorstellung  im  A.  T.  (I.  TeilJ,  pp.  15,  16. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP 


213 


of  service.  It  was  a  covenant  that  linked  together  in 
perpetuity  friends  like  Jonathan  and  David1;  a  cove- 
nant that  secured  a  man's  fidelity  to  his  betrothed2. 
The  prophets  were  the  successive  witnesses  of  the  act 
of  divine  grace  by  which  the  life  of  divine  fellowship 
and  covenant  consecration  had  been  initiated.  But 
the  Mosaic  covenant  did  but  indicate  in  a  rudi- 
mentary fashion  the  true  consummation  to  which  the 
deliverance  from  Egypt  pointed,  namely  the  life  of 
personal  friendship  between  God  and  man.  God 
reveals  Himself  in  the  Decalogue  as  educating  man 
for  that  life ;  to  use  the  striking  phrase  of  Irenaeus, 
He  is  seen praestruens  hominemper  decalogum  in  suam 
amid ti am 3. 

II. 

It  was  then  the  moral  requirement  involved  in  the 
covenant  which  formed  the  basis  and  distinctive  mark 
of  Israel's  religion.  He  who  made  Himself  known  to 
the  people  in  acts  of  grace  and  power  demanded  of 
them  a  life  conformed  to  His  own  character.  He  re- 
quired not  merely  the  ordinary  expressions  of  religious 
homage,  but  a  higher  morality,  justice,  humanity, 
mercy,  and  good  faith.  In  other  words,  at  Sinai  were 
laid  down  the  great  ethical  principles  which  afterwards 
became  the  standard  of  prophetic  religion,  and  within 
the  lines  of  which  all  subsequent  Torak,  all  prophetic 
or  priestly  instruction,  was  bound  to  move 4.  The 
knowledge  of  God  ^  mentioned  by  Hosea  may  certainly 
have  embraced  legal,  civil,  and  ceremonial  decisions, 

1  I  Sam.  xviii.  3  ;  xx.  8,  16,  42  ;  xxiii.  18.     Cp.  Kraetzschmar,  p.  20. 

2  Ezek.  xvi.  8.  3  Iren.  Haer.  iv.  16.  3. 

4  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  inj.  C.  p.  305.    Montefiore,  op.  tit.  p.  45,  says  : 
'  The    Torah — or  teaching— of  the  priests,  half-judicial,  half-pedagogic, 
was  a  deep  moral  influence.  .  .  .  There  is  good  reason  to  suppose  that  this 
priestly   Torah  is  the  one  religious  institution  which  can  be  correctly 
attributed  to  Moses.     If  that  be  so,  then  not  only  did  the  pre-prophetic 
religion  itself  include  an  important  ethical  element,  but  this  very  element 
was  part  and  parcel  of  the  original  Mosaic  teaching,'  &c.     See  generally 
Wellhausen,  Prolegomena,  ch.  x. 

5  Hos.  vi.  6. 


214  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

but,  says  Wellhausen,  '  since  its  practical  issue  is  that 
God  requires  of  man  righteousness,  faithfulness  and 
good-will,  it  is  fundamentally  and  essentially  morality, 
though  morality  at  that  time  addressed  its  demands 
less  to  the  conscience  than  to  society1/  Indeed, 
the  practical  prominence  of  social  righteousness  in 
the  Law,  which  finds  comprehensive  expression  in  the 
sentence  Thou  shall  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself*, 
constitutes  a  link  between  the  prophets  and  the 
legalists  of  Israel,  and  anticipates  with  whatever 
limitations  the  teaching  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  true 
that  in  the  development  of  Hebrew  morality  there 
seem  to  be  occasional  moments  of  retrogression.  For 
instance,  the  intense  hatred  of  foreigners  and  the  exag- 
gerated spirit  of  nationalism  does  not  appear  to  have 
prevailed  to  the  same  extent  in  the  pre-exilic  period 
as  in  subsequent  times.  The  older  legislation  appears 
in  some  respects  to  breathe  a  higher  spirit  than  the 
later;  and  a  similar  contrast  may  be  traced  between 
the  earlier  and  the  later  prophecy,  between  the  uni- 
versalistic  utterances  of  an  Isaiah  and  the  tone  of  such 
books  as  those  of  Daniel,  the  Chronicles,  Ezra  and 
Nehemiah  3.  The  fact  is  that  different  elements  in  the 
religious  character  became  prominent  in  different  ages, 
nor  was  the  spirit  of  any  particular  period  strictly  uni- 
form or  consistent.  I  n  the  post-exilic  period,  for  example, 
the  germs  are  discernible  of  the  temper  which  gradually 
developed  into  Pharisaism,  the  anxious  and  scrupulous 
spirit  which  aimed  at  strict  legal  obedience  and  careful 
conformity  to  a  code  of  minute  external  ordinances. 
But  at  the  same  time  this  very  period  awakened  the 
spiritual  joy,  fervour,  and  devotion,  the  filial  delight  in 
God  and  in  His  worship,  which  is  reflected  in  the 
Psalter.  It  produced  also  a  type  of  teaching  which 
laid  stress  on  charity  to  those  in  need,  and  on  *  the 
doing  of  kindnesses'  as  the  chief  of  human  duties4. 

1  Prolegomena,  p.  395. 

2  Lev.  xix.  17.  8  See  Schultz,  O.  T.  Theology,  vol.  ii.  p.  61  foil. 

4  See  Schechter,  Studies  in  Jiidaism,  no.  ix,  and  Montefiore's  Hibbert 
Lectures,  no.  ix,  on  '  The  Law  and  its  Influence.' 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  215 

The  mature  fruit  of  the  Law  only  appeared  in  an  age 
of  violent  contrasts,  the  character  of  which  we  are 
sometimes  apt  to  misconceive.  Legalism  had  its 
beautiful  and  beneficent,  as  well  as  its  baneful 
and  harsh  consequences.  But  if  it  be  true  of  later 
Judaism  that  'morality  penetrated  through  Jewish 
society  and  was  a  potent  link  or  bridge  between  class 
and  class  1,'  we  must  trace  this  result  far  back  to  the 
character  once  for  all  impressed  on  Hebrew  religion 
by  Moses,  whose  'great  merit,'  says  Kuenen,  'lies  in 
the  fact  of  his  connexion  of  the  religious  idea  with  the 
moral  life  2.' 

It  seems  natural  at  this  point  to  consider  somewhat 
more  in  detail  the  ten  words  of  the  covenant 3,  in 
which  the  will  of  God  for  His  elect  people  finds  its 
most  simple  and  universal  expression.  The  Decalogue 
indeed  has  been  proved  by  experience  to  be  a  compre- 
hensive summary  of  human  duty.  It  defines  in  broad 
outlines  the  conditions  of  a  right  relation  to  God  and 
to  all  that  He  has  made 4. 

But  first  a  word  is  necessary  on  the  question  of  the 
antiquity  of  the  Decalogue.  We  have  already  noticed 
that  its  Mosaic  authorship  has  been  questioned  mainly 
on  two  grounds  :  first,  the  uncertainty  as  to  the  precise 
contents  of  the  ten  words  alluded  to  in  Exodus  xxxiv. 
27,  28  ;  secondly,  the  fact  that  the  second  command- 
ment seems  to  be  practically  unknown  until  the  time 
of  Hezekiah's  reformation,  when  the  long-established 

1  Montefiore,  p.  547.  2  Religion  of  Israel,  i.  p.  282. 

3  Exod.  xxxiv.  28.  Cp.  Deut.  iv.  13  ;  x.  14.  In  some  passages  (e.g. 
Exod.  xxv.  16,  21)  the  Decalogue  is  called  'the  testimony,'  (nnyn) 
i.e.  the  declaration  of  Jehovah's  will.  So  the  ark  which  contained  the 
tables  of  stone  is  called  'The  ark  of  Jehovah's  covenant'  (Deut.  x.  8). 

*  Iren.  Haer.iv.  15.  i:  'NamDeus  primo  quidem  pernaturaliapraecepta 
quae  ab  initio  infixa  dedit  hominibus  admonens  eos,  id  est  per  decalogum, 
nihil  plus  ab  eis  exquisivit.'  Ibid.  16.  3  :  '  Similiter  permanent  apud  nos, 
extensionem  et  augmentum  sed  non  dissolutionem  accipientia  per  carnalem 
Ejus  adventum.'  Cp.  T.  Aquin.  Summa  Theologiae,  i.  iiae.  qu.  100, 
art.  3  :  '  Omnia  praecepta  [moralia]  legis  sunt  quaedam  partes  prae- 
ceptorum  decalogi.'  See  also  Riehm,  ATI.  Theologie,  §  14;  Schultz, 
O.  T.  Theology,  ii.  46  foil. ;  W.  S.  Bruce,  The  Ethics  of  the  O.  T. 
ch.  vi. 


2i 6  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

cult  of  the  brazen  serpent  was  finally  abolished.  There 
are  other  more  subjective  arguments  alleged:  e.g. 
that  the  monotheistic  idea  embodied  in  the  code  is 
too  pronounced  to  be  considered  primitive,  and  that 
the  universality  of  its  moral  teaching  is  incompatible 
with  the  notion  of  an  early  date  l.  Into  the  merits  of 
this  contention  I  do  not  propose  to  enter  at  length. 
It  may  be  observed,  however,  that  even  those  who 
abandon  the  Mosaic  authorship  of  the  Decalogue 
assign  to  its  substance  a  very  high  antiquity,  and  agree 
in  holding  that  the  main  element  in  the  teaching  of 
Moses  was  ethical.  In  other  words,  it  is  generally 
admitted  that  the  morality  of  the  Decalogue  was 
a  factor  in  Israel's  religion  from  the  first.  At  most 
the  Mosaic  origin  of  one  particular  commandment  is 
questioned  2.  It  seems  to  me  then  that  the  traditional 
view,  even  if  it  has  to  be  slightly  modified,  is 
essentially  justifiable.  Since,  however,  our  present 
concern  is  not  so  much  with  historical  and  critical 
questions  as  with  the  moral  and  spiritual  use  of 
the  Old  Testament,  there  is  the  less  need  to 
go  behind  the  ordinary  belief  respecting  the  origin 
of  the  Decalogue.  We  have  simply  to  review  its 
intrinsic  character  and  importance  viewed  as  the 
charter,  so  to  speak,  of  Old  Testament  religion.  The 
ten  commandments  fall  most  naturally  into  two  pen- 
tads 3,  the  fifth  in  each  case  having  a  close  connexion 
with  the  four  preceding  *  words/  The  first  table  regu- 
lates those  duties  which  result  from  the  spiritual  re- 
lationship to  his  Creator  into  which  man  finds  himself 
called.  The  first  '  word '  warns  Israel  to  be  faithful 
and  loyal  in  the  service  of  its  Redeemer,  and  to  regard 

1  See  Wellhausen's  Sketch  of  the  History  of  Israel  and  Judah,  p.  2 1 , 
and  Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures,  Appendix,  pp.  553  foil.     Delitzsch,  New 
Commentary  on  Genesis,  vol.  i.  pp.  29  foil.,  touches  briefly  on  the  subject. 

2  Kuenen  accepts  the  Mosaic  authorship  of  the  Decalogue,  regarding 
Exod.  xx.  2  as  the  '  first  word '  and  xx.  4-6  as  a  later  expansion  of  the 
'  second  word '  (xx.  3).    (Religion  of  Israel,  ch.  v  [E.  T.  vol.  i.  pp.  285  foil.].) 

3  This  method  of  division  which  is  adopted  by  Philo  and  Josephus  is 
commended  by  Rom.  xiii.  9,  and  by  the  fact  that  the  first  five  '  words ' 
are  enforced  by  reasons. 


v]  AND   ITS   WORSHIP  217 

Him  for  all  purposes  of  worship  as  the  one  and  only 
God  -1.  The  second  directs  that  the  worship  paid  to 
God  shall  be  in  accordance  with  His  true  character;  it 
prohibits  the  deification  of  nature,  or  such  sensualism 
as  would  entangle  the  Creator  in  mundane  conditions. 
Especially  noticeable  is  the  revelation  of  God  as  jealous. 
Ewald  remarks  that  heathenism  drew  a  distinction 
between  the  loving  and  the  avenging  deity.  Whereas 
Aeschylus,  for  example,  believes  in  two  orders  of  gods — 
the  powers  of  vengeance  and  those  which  make  for 
mercy,  the  Old  Testament  leads  us  to  conceive  the 
jealousy  of  Jehovah  as  the  heat  of  outraged  goodness 
and  love.  The  third  *  word '  teaches  the  holiness  of  God 
as  revealed  to  Israel.  His  name,  that  is  the  expression 
of  His  revealed  character,  is  to  be  held  in  honour,  and 
not  to  be  used  lightly,  falsely,  or  without  just  occasion. 
The  fourth  'word  '  by  its  injunction  to  *  remember '  indi- 
cates that  Israel  already  inherited  a  tradition  in  regard  to 
the  observance  of  the  seventh  day.  But  the  command 
to  sanctify  the  day  is  characteristic.  It  lifts  an  ancient 
Semitic  custom  to  a  new  dignity,  consecrating  it  to  be 
a  symbol  of  covenant  union  between  Jehovah  and  Israel-. 
The  commandment  in  effect  lays  the  foundation  of  all 
Israel's  ordinances  of  worship.  At  the  same  time  it 
provides  for  the  due  recreation  of  that  human  nature 
which  by  creative  right  belongs  to  God  and  is  destined 
for  communion  with  Him.  The  fifth  commandment 
closing  the  series  gives  a  religious  sanction  to  family 
relationship.  It  implies  that  the  authority  of  parents  is 
a  counterpart  of  the  divine  authority.  Reverence  for  an 
earthly  father  or  mother  is  a  special  form  of  the  fear  of 
God  3.  In  later  legislation  the  commandment  appears 
to  be  extended  so  as  to  include  what  we  may  call 
spiritual  parentage  :  special  precepts  enjoin  the  duty  of 
respect  towards  old  age,  and  reverence  towards  magis- 

1  Riehm,  ATI.   Theologie,  p.  83:    '  Tritt  JHVH  nur  als  Nationalgott 
Israels  den  Gottern  andrer  Volker  gegeniiber  mit  dem  Ausspruch,  dass 
Israel  ihn  ausschliesslich  verehre.' 

2  Cp.  Meinhold,  Jesus  und  das  A.  T.  p.  71. 

3  Cp.  Lev.  xix.  3  and  32. 


218  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

trates  and  rulers1,  who  share  the  honour  due  to  Him 
in  whose  stead  they  administer  justice.  Thus  the 
whole  social  order  is  securely  based  on  the  regulation 
of  family  life,  and  the  institutions  of  government  are 
invested  with  a  sacrosanct  character. 

The  second  table  deals  with  duties  towards  fellow- 
,men,  and  '  gives  to  social  ethics  the  sanction  of  reli- 
gion 2 ' :  it  enjoins  respect  for  the  life  and  property  of 
others,  and  guards  the  sacredness  of  the  marriage  bond. 
The  ninth  commandment  probably  implies  not  the  duty 
of  truthfulness  and  integrity  in  general,  so  much  as 
that  of  abstinence  from  any  false  oath  or  declaration 
which  might  involve  detriment  to  a  neighbour's  life 
or  property.  The  concluding  '  word  '  embodies  the 
principle  which  was  destined  to  be  expanded  in  the 
New  Testament :  the  close  connexion  between  act  and 
thought.  *  The  revealed  law/  says  Oehler,  '  here 
undertakes  the  functions  of  conscience.  .  .  .  By  bringing 
man  to  a  consciousness  of  the  essential  nature  of 
a  higher  divine  righteousness  the  Law  roused  the  con- 
science from  its  slumber,  taught  the  knowledge  of  evil  as 
sin,  and  so  awoke  the  need  of  reconciliation  with  God  V 
The  tenth  commandment  virtually  anticipates  that 
'  inwardness  '  which  specially  characterizes  the  morality 
of  the  New  Testament,  and  it  is  instructive  to  remember 
the  function  which  it  discharged  in  the  moral  education 
of  St.  Paul  :  /  had  not  known  sin  but  by  the  law :  for 
I  had  not  known  lust  except  the  law  had  said,  Thou  shall 
not  covet 4. 

Some  general  observations  may  be  made  touching 
the  character  of  the  Decalogue  and  the  relation  in 
which  it  stands  to  the  rest  of  the  Mosaic  legislation. 

1  Prophets  are  hailed  as  'father/  Judges  v.  7  ;  2  Kings  ii.  12 ;  xiii.  14. 
Cp.  Ps.  xxxiv.  ii.     Rulers  have  the  same  title;  Gen.  xlv.  8.    Cp.  Lev. 
xix.  32,  and  Exod.  xxii.  28  ;  Ps.  Ixxxii.  6.     In  the  N.  T.  cp.  Rom.  xiii.  1-7. 

2  W.  S.  Bruce,  op.  cit.  p.  136. 

3  TheoL  of  the  O.  T.  vol.  i.  p.  266.    Cp.  R.  W.  Dale,  The  Ten  Command- 
ments, p.  241.     Obs.  Some  suppose  that  'coveting'  implies  an  actual 
attempt  to  get  possession  by  fraud  or  force  or  false  pretence  of  another's 
property.     See  e.g.  Schultz,  ii.  52,  and  cp.  Mark  x.  19,  / 

*  Rom.  vii.  7. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP 


219 


i.  First  we  notice  that  the  Decalogue  makes  religion 
the  foundation  of  all  personal  morality  and  social  duty 
or  right.  Human  duty  is  here  based  on  the  revelation 
of  God's  character.  The  first  table  recalls  to  Israel's 
recollection  the  redemptive  grace  which  as  a  nation 
it  had  actually  experienced.  The  gracious  acts  of 
Jehovah  are  set  forth  partly  as  an  incentive  to  grati- 
tude, partly  as  a  motive  to  obedience.  The  prophetic 
writer  of  Deuteronomy  dwells  on  the  essential  unity 
of  the  moral  law  viewed  as  a  law  of  love:  And  now, 
Israel,  what  doth  the  Lord  thy  God  require  of  thee  biit 
to  fear  the  Lord  thy  God,  to  walk  in  all  his  ways,  and 
to  love  him,  and  to  serve  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy 
heart  and  with  all  thy  soul 1  ?  This  is  the  point  at 
which  Hebrew  and  Christian  ethics  practically  meet 
each  other.  Augustine  remarks  that  the  most  pregnant 
and  obvious  distinction  between  the  two  Testaments 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  one  inculcates  fear,  the  other 
love  ;  the  one  points  men  to  a  schoolmaster  whom 
they  are  to  fear,  the  other  to  a  master  whom  they 
may  love  2.  He  is  thinking  of  the  prohibitory  form 
of  the  Decalogue,  which  of  course  corresponds  to  its 
paedagogic  function  as  part  of  a  primary  course  of 
instruction.  The  will  of  God,  before  it  can  educate 
that  of  man,  necessarily  comes  into  collision  with  his 
natural  propensity  to  evil.  There  was  indeed  a  law 
written  on  the  heart  of  man,  but  all  moral  education 
must  begin  with  definite  restriction  of  undisciplined 
desire.  Augustine,  however,  seems  to  overlook  for 
the  moment  a  feature  in  the  Decalogue  which  lifts  it, 
so  to  speak,  to  the  New  Testament  level.  The  appeal 
of  love  lies  behind  the  command  to  obey.  /  am  the 
Lord  thy  God,  which  have  brought  thee  out  of  the  land 
of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage.  Jehovah 
introduces  His  law  by  a  declaration  of  His  saving 

1  Deut.  x.  12  ;  cp.  vi.  5  foil. 

2  Exod.  xx.  2.     See  Aug.  c.  Adimant.  Manich.  discip.  i.  17  ;  cp.  de  util. 
cred.  3  :   '  Ille   igitur  paedagogum  dedit  hominibus   quern  timerent,  qui 
magistrum  postea  quern  diligerent.' 


220  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

grace,  of  the  compassion  which  makes  so  great  a  claim 
on  the  affections  and  wills  of  the  redeemed.  Thus 
the  vital  and  informing  principle  of  the  obedience 
enjoined  in  both  Old  and  New  Testaments  is  one  : 
Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God.  The  book  of 
Deuteronomy,  while  it  lays  much  stress  upon  the 
spirit  of  love  and  loyalty  in  which  the  law  is  to  be 
ideally  fulfilled,  appears  in  two  points  especially  to 
anticipate  the  teaching  of  the  New  Testament  :  it 
makes  religion  consist  in  devotion  of  heart T,  and 
it  points  to  the  sphere  of  moral  duty  as  one  near 
and  accessible  to  all :  The  word  is  very  nigh  unto  thee, 
in  thy  mouth  and  in  thy  heart,  that  thou  mayest  do  it. 
It  has  been  remarked  that  the  teaching  of  Deuteronomy 
is  most  closely  akin  to  that  of  Hosea2.  Certainly  in 
the  simplicity  of  its  view  of  religion,  in  the  conception 
that  the  service  of  God  fundamentally  consists  in  a  life 
of  active  love,  Deuteronomy  brings  us  to  the  very 
threshold  of  the  Gospel 3.  The  history  of  subsequent 
prophetic  activity  shows  how  immense  was  the  influ- 
ence of  this  book  in  fixing  a  standard  not  only  of 
external  observance  by  which  the  actions  of  men  were 
to  be  judged,  but  also  of  inward  devotion  towards 
which  individual  souls  might  aspire.  The  secret,  how- 
ever, of  the  appealing  beauty  that  pervades  the  book 
lies  in  its  prophetic  insistence  upon  the  electing  love 
which  lay  behind  the  covenant  and  its  legislation  4. 

2.  Another  striking  feature  of  the  Decalogue  is  the 
absence  of  any  directions  bearing  upon  worship 5. 
Only  one  commandment,  the  fourth,  provides  for 

1  See  Deut.  vi.  2,  5  ;  x.  12,  16;  xi.  I,  13,  22  ;  xiii.  4;  xix.  9.     For  the 
characteristic  thought  of  'circumcision  of  heart3  (x.  16)  cp.  Jer.  iv.  4; 
Ezek.  xliv.  7,  9.     See  also  Riehm,  A  77.  Theologie,  p.  239. 

2  Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  184. 

3  Cp.  Hieron.  ep.  ad  Paulinum,  9:  '  Deuteronomium   secunda  lex,  et 
Evangelicae  legis'praefiguratio ;  nonne  sic  ea  habet  quae  priora  sunt,  ut 
tamen  nova  sint  omnia  de  veteribus  ? ' 

4  Cp.  Deut.  vii.  7  foil. 

5  Riehm,  op.  cit.  p.  74 :  '  Keine  Opfer,  keine  Gaben,  iiberhaupt  kerne 
bestimmten  ausserlichen  Kultushandlungen  werden  im  Grundgesetz  des 
Gottesreiches  gefordert,  sondern  nur  die  ...  thatsachliche  Anerkennung 
der  Heiligkeit  des  JHVH  angehorigen  Tages.' 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  221 

a  positive  religious  observance.  The  second  '  word ' 
indeed  regulates  the  general  character  of  the  national 
cultus.  The  true  worship  of  God  is  to  be  not  only 
monolatrous,  but  imageless  \  We  have  seen  that  the 
question  has  been  raised,  when  this  principle  was  first 
explicitly  affirmed.  The  choice  lies  between  the  sup- 
position that  material  representations  of  Jehovah  were 
forbidden  by  Moses,  though  the  prohibition  was  to 
a  great  extent  forgotten  or  ignored  for  centuries ;  and 
the  view  that  the  commandment  was  first  inserted  in  the 
Decalogue  at  the  time  when  the  prophets  began  to  pro- 
test against  the  use  of  images  in  worship.  In  favour 
of  the  first  supposition  is  the  fact  that  at  the  official 
centres  of  worship  like  Shiloh,  and  afterwards  Jeru- 
salem, the  use  of  images  seems  to  have  been  unknown  ; 
and  it  is  also  certain  that  the  prophets  of  the  eighth 
century,  who  believed  themselves  to  be  the  true  ex- 
ponents  of  Mosaism,  regarded  the  bull-worship  of  the 
northern  kingdom  as  a  danger  and  a  snare  to  Israel, 
if  not  an  actual  form  of  apostasy  from  Jehovah  2.  We 
must  not,  however,  insist  too  strongly  on  the  significance 
of  these  facts.  It  is  enough  that  the  prophets  bear 
witness  to  the  essential  characteristics  of  the  Mosaic 
legislation  :  first,  in  their  silence  as  to  questions  of 
ritual — a  silence  which  reflects  the  negative  attitude 
of  the  ten  commandments ;  secondly,  in  their  positive 
insistence  on  social  and  personal  righteousness  as 
Jehovah's  sole  requirement.  Their  attitude  towards 
ritual  and  sacrifice,  to  say  nothing  of  such  explicit 
statements  as  that  of  Jeremiah  vii.  22,  incontestably 

1  Montefiore,  p.  127.     Renan  points  out  that  the  nomadic  Semite  was 
distinctly  lacking  in  a  taste  for  the  plastic  arts,  and  was  if  anything  averse 
by  temperament  to  the  use  of  images  in  worship   (Histoire  du  peuple 
d' Israel,  bk.  i.  ch.  4  init.}.     This  fact  seems  to  add  credibility  to  the 
traditional  view  of  the  second  commandment. 

2  See  Montefiore,  p.  128.     Amos  alludes  only  once,  and  with  indignant 
contempt,  to  the   bulls   of  Samaria  (viii.  14).     But  Hosea's  attitude  is 
one  of  strong    antagonism.     '  He  does  not  hesitate  to  call  the  idols  of 
the   national   god  Baalim,  and   the    service   thus   rendered   to   Yahveh 
/><za:/-service.'     Cp.  ii.  13-16;    iii.  i;  xiii.  2;  xiv.  3.     On  the  difference 
between  the  attitude  of  Hosea  and  that  of  Amos,  see  Robertson  Smith, 
Prophets  of  Israel,  pp.  176  foil. 


222  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

proves  that  the  Mosaic  Torah  was  not  mainly  con- 
cerned with  matters  of  cultus.  Certainly  the  legal 
and  ritual  Torah  of  the  priests  was  traced  to  Moses, 
but  so  also  was  the  Torah  or  word  of  the  prophets — 
that  very  word  which  habitually  subordinated  ritual 
observance  to  the  fulfilment  of  moral  duty.  This 
original  supremacy  of  the  ethical  element  in  Mosaism 
corresponds  to  the  conclusion  arrived  at  by  criticism 
that  the  discipline  of  the  ceremonial  law  was  subse- 
quent to  the  work  of  the  prophets ;  that  the  high 
development  of  ritual  is  characteristic  of  a  totally 
different  and  comparatively  late  stage  in  Israel's 
history. 

3.  One  more  point  may  be  noticed,  namely,  that 
the  positive  institutions  and  observances  of  Hebrew 
religion  gradually  came  to  be  regarded  in  the  light  of 
Moses'  ethical  teaching,  as  moral  symbols,  expressive 
of  a  spiritual  statiis  and  vocation  ;  and  as  outward 
emblems  of  the  holiness  that  became  a  kingdom  of 
priests.  Thus  the  rite  of  circumcision,  which  in  Egypt 
was  apparently  confined  to  the  priesthood,  was  looked 
upon  as  a  token  of  the  purity  of  life  to  which  every 
Israelite  was  called.  The  ordinance  of  the  Passover 
again,  participation  in  which  was  enjoined  under  pain 
of  extirpation  in  case  of  neglect,  symbolized  the  sacer- 
dotal stat^is  of  the  nation.  It  was  a  yearly  memorial 
of  the  deliverance  which  had  made  Israel  a  people 
holy  to  Jehovah,  a  yearly  renewal  of  the  covenant, 
a  yearly  reconsecration  of  individual  Israelites.  Each 
household  in  which  the  sacred  meal  was  solemnized 
was  thereby  constituted  a  sanctuary,  and  each  family 
a  priestly  company1.  The  readmission  of  the  healed 
leper  to  his  forfeited  privileges  was  accompanied  by 
ceremonies  similar  to  those  observed  in  the  consecra- 
tion of  priests2.  The  same  idea  was  implied  in  the 
sanctification  of  the  firstborn,  which  represented  the 

1  Cp.  Riehm,  A  77.  Theologie,  §  26. 

2  Riehm,  loc.  cit.      Cp.  Lev.  xiv.  14  foil,   with  Exod.  xxix.  20,  Lev. 
viii.  24. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  223 

vocation    of  the    entire    people   to    Jehovah's   special 
service  1. 

Even  when  these  rudimentary  institutions  had  been 
developed  into  an  elaborate  ceremonial  law,  yet  the 
prophetic  element  derived  from  the  Mosaic  covenant 
would  make  the  levitical  code  a  real  aid  to  the  religious 
life.  Its  ordinances  concerning  sabbaths,  festivals  and 
fasts,  its  ideal  agrarian  regulations,  even  its  careful 
dietary  and  distinction  between  clean  and  unclean — 
must  have  tended  '  to  give  a  certain  dignity  and 
sanctity  to  life  V  and  to  foster  true  thoughts  in  regard 
to  the  worth  of  time,  the  responsibilities  of  property, 
and  the  solemnity  of  everyday  acts  and  occupations 
when  carried  on  under  the  consciousness  of  the  divine 
presence.  Even  in  such  a  book  as  Chronicles,  which 
is  entirely  pervaded  by  the  levitical  spirit,  we  find 
occasionally  the  prayer  for  inward  devotion,  for  a  perfect 
heart  and  a  willing  mind 3,  as  if  this  after  all  was  the 
one  thing  needful  for  acceptance  with  God.  So  in 
the  ceremonial  law,  as  in  the  law  of  worship  presently 
to  be  considered,  we  miss  the  inspiring  and  informing 
element  if  we  overlook  the  result  towards  which  it 
tended,  and  which  in  part  -it  successfully  achieved. 
For  the  ceremonial  observances  of  the  ancient  law 
had  a  spiritual  aim.  They  -were  intended  to  result, 
says  a  recent  writer,  '  in  clean  hands  and  a  pure  heart, 
in  a  conduct  characterized  by  separation  from  sin  and 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  righteousness  V  Indeed,  as 
Origen  observes,  there  are  evangelical  elements  even 
in  the  law  :  Sic  ergo  invenitur  et  Evangelii  virtus  in 
lege,  et  fundamento  legis  subnixa  intelliguntur  evan- 
gelia 5. 

1  Exod.  xiii.  I  foil.     Cp.  Num.  viii.  i6foll. 

2  Cp.   Montefiore,   op.   tit.   p.  511.     See   also   a   striking  passage  in 
Dr.  Fairbairn's  Religion  in  History  and  in  Modern  Life,  lect.  ii.  pp.  127  foil. 

3  I  Chron.  xxviii.  9  ;  cp.  xxix.  18,  19;  2  Chron.  xvi.  9,  &c.  (Montefiore, 
p.  483). 

4  W.  S.  Bruce,  Ethics  of  the  O.  T.  p.  210. 

5  in  Num.   horn.   ix.  4.      On   the   application   of    the   Decalogue   to 
Christian  conduct,  see  Gore,  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount >  Appendix  ii. 


224  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 


III. 

There  are  two  institutions  minutely  described  in 
the  Pentateuch  which  specially  presuppose  and  embody 
the  idea  of  covenant  fellowship — the  sanctuary  and 
the  sacrifices.  Mosaism  is  throughout  a  religion  of 
symbolism.  Its  characteristic  institutions  give  con- 
crete expression  to  a  very  vivid  and  spiritual  faith. 
For  we  must  remember  that,  in  their  developed  form, 
the  Pentateuchal  ordinances  do  not  merely  prefigure 
and  typify  spiritual  realities,  but  actually  give  material 
form  to  spiritual  ideas.  There  lies  behind  them  the 
prophetic  conception  of  a  holy  people,  in  whose  midst 
the  God  of  holiness  Himself  has  deigned  to  make  His 
abode.  Hence  that  typical  character  which  belongs 
to  Jewish  institutions ;  they  give  substance  to  essential 
verities  of  catholic  and  spiritual  religion,  and  they  fore- 
shadow in  visible  objects  and  in  external  ceremonies 
a  consummation  towards  which  Hebrew  religion  was 
ever  tending1.  In  the  Christian  dispensation  all  things 
are  made  new.  The  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men, 
and  he  will  dwell  with  them  and  will  be  their  God-. 
Yes  ;  but  we  must  not  forget  that  this  great  thought 
penetrated  the  prophet  whose  influence  is  most  de- 
cidedly impressed  on  the  entire  sacrificial  system. 
Modern  criticism  has  enabled  us  to  understand  the 
historical  place  and  significance  of  the  ritual  code  or 
Tor  ah  which  closes  the  book  of  Ezekiel — a  passage 
which  has  even  been  described  as  '  the  key  of  the  Old 
Testament  V  Ezekiel's  plan  is  partly  ideal,  partly 
allegorical,  partly  based  on  old  priestly  usage,  re- 

1  Aug.  c.  Faust.  Manich.  vi.  9  :   '  Illud  enim  erat  tempus  significant, 
hoc  manifestandi.     Ergo  ipsa  scriptura,  quae  tune  fuit  exactrix  operum 
significantium,  nunc  testis  est  rerum  significatarum,  et  quae  tune  observa- 
batur  ad  praenuntiationem,  nunc  recitatur  ad  confirmationem.' 

2  Rev.  xxi.  3.     Cp.  Ezek.  xxxvii.  27. 

3  Orth   ap.   Wellhausen,    Prolegomena,   p.  421.      Oa    Ezekiel's   draft 
sketch,  see  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  in  J.  C.  pp.  376  foil.  ;  Montefiore, 
Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  255. 


v]  AND  ITS    WORSHIP  225 

modelled  in  accordance  with  the  idea  of  Jehovah's 
holiness.  Probably  in  great  measure  it  shaped  the  post- 
exilic  organization  of  the  priesthood,  and  the  sacrificial 
worship  of  the  second  temple.  But  the  dominating 
idea  of  the  entire  sketch  is  one  which  the  Incarnation 
alone  was  destined  to  verify ;  it  is  indicated  in  the 
closing  words  of  Ezekiel's  prophecy  :  The  name  of  the 
city  from  that  day  shall  be,  The  Lord  is  there1.  This 
indeed  may  be  said  to  be  the  Messianic  ideal  of  the 
priesthood  :  the  enthronement  and  permanent  presence 
of  Jehovah  in  the  midst  of  His  people.  The  sanctuary 
and  worship  of  Israel  may  or  may  not  have  been  insti- 
tutions actually  realized  in  detail ;  but  in  any  case  the 
description  of  them  has  a  providential  and  didactic 
purpose.  We  are  warranted  not  only  by  New  Testa- 
ment references,  but  by  our  knowledge  of  the  motive 
which  dictated  the  elaborate  description  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, in  believing  that  it  was  expressly  intended  to 
embody  certain  characteristic  ideas  of  Judaism,  and 
to  symbolize  religious  truths  2.  From  this  point  of 
view  it  makes  no  material  difference  whether  the 
sketch  is  strictly  faithful  to  historical  fact,  or  whether 
it  is  a  partially  ideal  creation.  In  either  case  the 
religious  idea  is  present,  and  this  to  a  Christian  reader 
of  the  Old  Testament  is  the  point  of  paramount 
interest. 

It  follows  from  what  has  been  said  that  the  symbolical 
interpretation  of  the  tabernacle  and  its  services,  which 
we  find  in  the  New  Testament,  especially  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews,  has  a  foundation  in  reason  and  in 
spiritual  fact.  There  is  a  sense  in  which,  as  Origen 
boldly  says,  the  Law  is  *  always  new  V  It  interprets 

1  Ezek.  xlviii.  35.     Cp.  Darmesteter,  Les  Prophttes  d* Israel,  p.  108. 

2  Wellhausen,  Prolegomena,  p.  81,  says:  'The  spiritualization  of  the 
worship  is  seen  in  the  Priestly  code  as  advancing  pari  passu  with  its 
centralization.     It  receives,  so  to  speak,  an  abstract  religious  character.' 

3  Orig.  in  Num.  horn.  ix.  4:  'Nobis  autem  qui  earn  [legem]  spiritaliter 
et  evangelico   sensu   intelligimus   et  exponimus,  semper    nova    est,   et 
utrumque    nobis    novum  testamentum  est,   non   temporis  novitate   sed 
intelligentiae   novitate.'     Cp.  Aug.  de  util.  cred.  9  :  '  Evacuatur  namque 
in  Christo   non  vetus  testamentum  sed  velamen  eius,  ut  per  Christum 

Q 


226  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

to  us  our  own  faith,  and  Christian  experience  has 
proved  that  a  close  study  of  the  ancient  sanctuary  and 
its  worship  not  only  gives  the  clue  to  the  meaning 
of  New  Testament  thoughts  and  expressions,  but  also 
enlarges  our  comprehension  of  the  general  principles 
of  divine  revelation.  This  will  become  more  apparent 
in  the  sequel. 

It  has,  however,  already  been  pointed  out  that 
critics  appear  to  be  justified  in  maintaining  that  the 
description  of  the  tabernacle  in  the  book  of  Exodus  is 
very  highly  idealized.  There  is  no  sufficient  ground 
for  questioning  the  existence  of  a  simple  tent  in  the 
earliest  Mosaic  period,  which  formed  a  shelter  for 
the  ark,  and  stood  without  the  camp  in  accordance 
with  ordinary  Semitic  usage.  But  what  is  called  in 
question  by  criticism  is  the  existence  in  the  wilderness, 
among  tribes  living  under  nomad  conditions,  of  a 
splendid,  costly,  and  elaborate  structure,  '  wrought  in 
the  most  advanced  style  of  oriental  art  V  Apart  from 
the  character  of  the  building,  there  is  the  serious 
difficulty  that  Hebrew  tradition  appears  to  know 
practically  nothing  of  such  a  shrine  in  pre-exilic  days  2. 
It  knows  something  of  the  ark  and  of  a  central 
sanctuary  at  Shiloh,  but  of  the  sumptuous  tabernacle 
described  in  the  book  of  Exodus  it  makes  no  mention. 
A  Christian  apologist  can  afford  to  admit  that  the 
elaborate  description  of  the  tabernacle  is  to  be  regarded 
as  a  product  of  religious  idealism,  working  upon  an 
historical  basis,  and  that  the  sketch  as  a  whole  is  largely 
coloured  by  reminiscences  or  traditions  of  the  splendid 
temple  of  Solomon.  A  prophetic  idea  underlies  the 
picture,  namely,  that  the  unity  of  God  implies  unity 
and  centralization  of  cultus.  '  The  tabernacle,'  says 
Wellhausen,  *  is  not  narrative  merely  but,  like  all  the 

intelligatur    et    quasi    denudetur   quod    sine    Christo    obscurum    atque 
adopertum  est.' 

1  Wellhausen,  Prolegomena,  p.  39. 

2  The  writer  of  Chronicles  assumes  the  existence  of  the  tabernacle  in 
Canaan  before  the  building  of  the  temple,  but  his  evidence  does  not  out- 
weigh, for  obvious  reasons,  the  silence  of  the  earlier  books. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  227 

narratives  [in  Exodus],  law  as  well ;  it  expresses  the 
legal  unity  of  the  worship  as  an  historical  fact,  which, 
from  the  very  beginning,  ever  since  the  exodus,  has 
held  good  in  Israel.  One  God,  one  sanctuary,  that 
is  the  idea  V  But  there  is  no  reason  for  questioning 
the  fact  that  in  a  rudimentary  form  suited  to  the 
conditions  of  wilderness  life,  a  simple  tent  of  meeting 
was  constructed  by  Moses  as  the  place  of  Jehovah's 
abode.  We  might  infer  this  not  only  from  con- 
siderations of  a  priori  probability  and  from  the 
express  testimony  of  tradition,  but  also  from  the  very 
structure  of  the  more  elaborate  sanctuary,  which  in  its 
arrangements  appears  to  be  modelled  on  the  ancient 
shepherd's  tent,  with  its  open  court,  its  large  outer 
apartment,  and  its  private  sanctum 2.  Moreover,  as 
Riehm  points  out,  the  ancient  law  of  Leviticus  xvii. 
implies  the  existence  of  a  simple  Mosaic  tent,  which 
had  essentially  the  very  significance  afterwards  attri- 
buted to  the  ideal  structure  of  the  priestly  document 3. 

From  the  symbolic  sanctuary  we  turn  to  the  institu- 
tion of  sacrifice,  which  in  the  Pentateuch  is  ordered 
and  regulated  as  a  legitimate  and  recognized  mode 
of  approach  to  God  :  of  either  entering  into  covenant 
relationship  with  Him,  or  restoring  it  when  interrupted. 

The  levitical  sacrifices  demand  special  attention 
in  so  far  as  a  vital  connexion  is  assumed  in  Scripture 
to  exist  between  the  death  of  a  sacrificial  victim  and 
the  inauguration  or  renewal  of  a  covenant.  This  con- 
nexion is  evidently  regarded  as  axiomatic  and  self- 
evident  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews4,  and  it  seems 
to  underlie  the  solemn  words  in  which  our  Lord 
Himself  institutes  the  perpetual  memorial  of  His 
sacred  passion.  The  New  Covenant  had  been  fore- 
shadowed in  the  Old,  and  had  been  expressly  predicted 

1  See  Prolegomena,  pp.  34-50. 

2  Schultz,  O.  T.  Theology,  i.  p.  351. 

3  ATI.  Theologie,  p.  79.     Even  Renan  allows  the  existence  of  such 
a  tent.     '  But  this,'  he  says,  'was  only  a  germ '    (Histoire  du  peuple 
(f  Israel,  bk.  i.  ch.  15  s.fi?t.}. 

*  Heb.  ix.  17. 

Q  2 


228  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

by  Jeremiah  l.  It  was  a  better  covenant  both  in  what 
it  promised  and  what  it  ordained ;  but  it  was  better 
chiefly  in  respect  of  the  dignity  and  preciousness  of 
the  sacrifice  on  which  it  rested.  Each  covenant  was 
inaugurated  with  bloodshedding 2,  but  the  ancient 
slaughter  of  victims  was  the  symbol  of  a  spiritual  self- 
oblation  of  infinite  worth — a  self-oblation  which  in 
itself  changed  the  relationship  between  man  and  God, 
and  became  the  foundation  of  a  covenant  union  per- 
manent and  complete.  The  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ 
comprehends  all  the  moral  elements  which  the  Hebrew 
cultus  strove  to  express  in  a  material  and  symbolic 
form.  It  includes  that  consecration  of  life,  that  dedi- 
cation of  will,  that  devotion  of  heart  which  the  notion 
of  a  'covenant'  between  the  All-Holy  and  His 
creatures  necessarily  implies.  Thus  in  studying 
Israel's  sacrificial  worship  we  ascertain  the  spiritual 
conditions  involved  in  man's  communion  with  his 
Creator. 

Now  speaking  generally,  the  purpose  of  the  ciiltus 
was  at  once  disciplinary  and  didactic.  On  the  one 
hand,  the  sacrificial  worship  was  intended  to  develope 
and  deepen  the  consciousness  of  sin,  to  make  the 
thought  of  Jehovah's  holiness  and  of  His  separation 
from  the  creature  a  practical  power  in  human  life.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  was  intended  to  awaken  and  train 
religious  affections  :  the  spirit  of  dependence  and  holy 
fear,  the  temper  of  trust,  devotion,  self-surrender,  thank- 
fulness, love,  and  the  longing  for  divine  grace.  Thus 
though  the  post-exilic  elaboration  of  sacrificial  ritual 
seems  at  first  sight  retrogressive  and  reactionary,  yet 
it  was  inspired  by  an  ethical  and  spiritual  motive.  It 
was  not  a  reversion  to  heathenism,  with  its  purely 
external  conception  of  religious  obligation.  It  was 
not  intended  to  place  ritual  on  a  level  with  morality, 
as  if  both  were  equally  acceptable  to  God.  It  was  the 

1  Jer.  xxxi.  31  foil.     Cp.  Heb.  viii.  8  foil.     See  also  Matt.  xxvi.  28  and 
Luke  xxii.  20. 
*  Heb.  ix.  1 8. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  229 

outcome  of  a  penitent  sense  of  national  unfaithfulness 
to  Jehovah  in  the  past,  and  of  a  genuine  desire  to 
provide  safeguards  against  future  apostasy,  or  negli- 
gence in  His  service.  The  cultus  was  doubtless 
regarded  by  its  authors  '  as  a  very  important  means 
towards  the  great  end  of  keeping  the  people  of  Israel 
faithful  in  heart  and  life  to  God  V 

Before  we  consider  the  sacrifices  in  detail,  however, 
it  will  be  advisable  to  make  four  preliminary  observa- 
tions. 

i.  The  institutions  of  sacrifice  described  in  the 
Pentateuch  are  based  on  pre-existing  customs.  It  has 
been  observed  that  the  origin  and  rationale  of  sacrifice 
are  nowhere  explained  in  the  Old  Testament.  '  That 
sacrifice  is  an  essential  part  of  religion  is  taken  for 
granted  V  The  ritual  of  the  second  temple  was  based 
on  immemorial  usage  and  tradition.  In  numerous 
details  it  illustrates  the  affinity  of  Hebrew  institutions 
to  those  of  the  Semitic  race  generally.  Consequently 
much  light  has  been  thrown  upon  the  origin  and 
meaning  of  Mosaic  institutions  of  worship  by  inquiry 
into  the  customs  of  Semitic  paganism.  Distinctive, 
however,  of  Israel's  religion  is  the  tendency  visible 
from  the  first  to  moralize  the  cultits,  and  to  reduce 
its  significance  as  a  mere  opus  operation  by  insistence 
on  Jehovah's  ethical  requirement.  So  far  as  we 
can  gather,  Moses  seems  to  have  contented  himself 
with  a  minimum  of  ritual  legislation,  and  we  may 
suppose  that  such  ceremonial  traditions  as  were 
allowed  or  instituted  by  Moses  himself  were  cherished 
and  observed  in  pre-prophetic  days  by  the  priest- 
hood at  the  sanctuary  of  Shiloh.  The  codification 
and  further  development  of  sacrificial  usage  may 
well  have  begun  at  the  period  when  Jerusalem,  in 
consequence  of  the  building  of  Solomon's  temple, 
became  the  religious  centre  of  the  kingdom.  '  The 
priesthood,'  says  Riehm,  *  as  the  guardians  of  the  Mosaic 

1  Bruce,  Apologetics,  p.  265. 

2  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  3. 


230  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

traditions,  traced  back  the  entire  contents  of  the 
priestly  law  to  Moses,  but  historically  this  is  only 
true  of  the  spirit  that  dominates  the  whole  system  and 
of  its  main  outlines  V  By  the  '  spirit  of  the  whole 
system'  we  may  understand  the  desire  to  keep  alive 
in  Israel  the  spirit  of  loyalty  to  Jehovah's  covenant. 
Characteristic  of  Mosaism  is  the  Decalogue  :  of  post- 
exilic  Judaism,  the  sacrificial  system ;  but  the  motive 
underlying  the  legislation  of  Moses  and  of  Ezra  is 
practically  the  same — a  desire  to  secure  Israel's  faith- 
fulness to  the  divine  covenant 2. 

2.  We  are  struck  by  the  attitude  of  the  prophets 
towards  sacrifice.  Some  of  them  appear  to  represent 
it  as  a  concession  to  spiritual  immaturity ;  all  of  them 
speak  of  it  as  wholly  subordinate  in  importance  to 
moral  obedience.  Such  is  the  force  of  the  celebrated 
passage,  Jeremiah  vii.  22  3.  Later  prophecy  seems  to 
regard  sacrifice  as  the  appropriate  symbol  of  a  perfect 
devotion  to  God  ;  it  values  the  levitical  worship  not 
indeed  for  itself  but  for  that  which  it  signifies,  namely 
the  entire  consecration  of  life  to  God4.  Ezekiel  in 
the  last  nine  chapters  of  his  book  appears  at  first  sight 
to  co-ordinate  ritual  worship  with  morality,  but  such  is 
not  the  tendency  of  his  prophecy  surveyed  as  a  whole. 
Legalistic  as  is  the  habit  of  Ezekiel's  mind,  we  must 
remember  that  he  is  pre-eminently  the  teacher  of 
personal  religion  and  individual  responsibility,  while 
in  his  early  chapters  the  statiites  and  judgments  which  he 
proclaims  are  exclusively  moral 5.  On  the  whole,  then, 
it  would  appear  that  the  prophets  were  comparatively 
indifferent  to  the  actual  details  of  the  cultus.  Their 
polemical  statements  prove  little  as  to  the  Mosaic 

1  Riehm,  ATI.  Theologie,  p.  81.     Bruce,  Apologetics,  p.  221,  refers  to 
this  passage,  and  observes  that  the  religious  customs  were  'ascribed  to 
Moses  not  so  much  as  author,  but  rather  as  authority.' 

2  Cp.  Bruce,  p.  219. 

3  Cp.  Amos  v.  25,  and  see  Iren.Haer.  iv.  17.  3  :  'Non  enim  principaliter 
haec  [sacrificia],  sed  secundum  consequential!!  . .  .  habuit  populus.'     (See 
the  whole  passage.) 

*  See  Isa.  Ixvi.  20  foil. ;  Zech.  xiv.  i6foll. ;  Mai.  iii.  4. 

5  See  Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  257.     Cp.  Ezek.  xviii. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP 


231 


origin  or  precise  character  of  the  contemporary 
worship ;  what  they  denounce  is  the  immorality  and 
profligacy  which  had  come  to  be  associated  with  the 
popular  worship,  and  the  hypocrisy  which  imagined  that 
effusive  religiosity  was  a  kind  of  compensation  for 
unrighteous  conduct. 

3.  The  question  has  also  been  raised  by  criticism 
how  far  the  levitical  system  was  ever  actually  in 
operation.  The  sacrificial  usage  codified  in  the  Penta- 
teuch represents  what  was  at  least  intended  to  be 
observed  in  the  post-exilic  temple.  It  is  evidently 
a  highly  complex  and  artificial  system,  the  product 
of  a  reforming  movement,  which  attempted  to 
restore  and  develope  ritual  praxis  on  the  lines  of 
ancient  tradition 1.  The  peculiar  form  of  the  cere- 
monial prescribed  in  Leviticus  is  determined  partly 
by  the  antiquarian  tendency  of  the  time,  partly  by 
the  desire  to  give  an  adequate  symbolic  expression 
to  a  deepened  spiritual  experience.  There  is  indeed 
every  reason  to  suppose  that  the  system  existed  in 
germ  even  at  the  earliest  period  of  Israel's  national 
history  2 ;  in  outline  it  is  represented  in  the  ceremonies 
connected  with  the  consecration  of  the  priests,  which 
probably  represent  a  very  ancient  tradition.  But  in 
any  case,  whatever  may  have  been  the  extent  to  which 
the  sacrificial  system  was  practically  observed  before 
the  exile,  it  derived  new  significance  from  the  Deutero- 
nomic  law  of  the  one  sanctuary.  In  ancient  Israel 
sacrificial  feasts  were  freely  celebrated  at  local  sanctua- 
ries :  but  with  the  concentration  of  religion  at  one 
central  shrine,  sacrifice,  though  it  ceased  to  be  the  most 
vital  element  in  popular  worship,  acquired  special 
dignity  and  importance  as  a  representative  national 
service.  It  virtually  served  the  purpose  of  an  object- 
lesson  to  Israel  during  the  period  when  prophecy  was 

1  Schultz,  O.  T.  Theology,  vol.  i.  p.  373 ;  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of 
the  Semites,  pp.  198  foil. ;   O.  T.  in  J.  C.,  lect.  xi. 

2  Edersheim,    Warburton  Lectures,   p.    239,   declares    that  the   non- 
observance  of  the  system  in  the  wilderness  was  '  unquestionably  a  necessity 
imposed  by  the  times.'     Cp.  Wellhausen,  Prolegomena^  p.  412. 


232  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

silent.  It  put  an  end  once  for  all  to  the  practical 
heathenism  against  which  the  pre-exilic  prophets  had 
preached  without  avail ;  and  it  embodied  in  visible 
form  prophetic  teachings  in  regard  to  the  nature  and 
character  of  God,  and  the  conditions  of  covenantal 
fellowship  with  Him.  It  is  clear  that  the  critical 
analysis  of  the  Pentateuch  relieves  us  of  a  difficulty. 
Had  the  sacrificial  ritual  been  certainly  prescribed  in 
its  present  form  by  Moses  we  should  have  had  to 
explain  the  fact  that  an  elaborate  system  solemnly 
established  under  divine  sanctions  of  the  most  stringent 
kind  was  practically  ignored  for  centuries,  and  failed 
in  great  measure  to  effect  its  object,  namely  the 
restraint  of  the  people  from  idolatry  and  apostasy l. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  we  accept  the  modern  theory, 
the  facts  to  be  explained  fall  into  their  true  place. 

4.  Lastly,  it  is  noticeable  that  the  chief  feature 
distinctive  of  the  levitical  ritual  is  the  development 
of  piacular  sacrifice.  The  simplicity  and  joyousness 
of  primitive  worship,  reflecting  to  a  great  extent  the 
conditions  of  an  early  age  and  the  placid  happiness  of 
agricultural  life,  found  appropriate  expression  in  rites 
and  festivals  connected  with  the  changing  seasons  of 
the  year.  But  a  religion  of  this  type  could  not  with- 
stand the  strain  of  prolonged  disaster  and  adversity. 
Accordingly  in  the  seventh  century  B.C.  we  find  the 
development  in.  Palestine  of  a  more  sombre  species  of 
worship,  under  the  pressure  of  accumulated  national 
calamities  which  appeared  to  betoken  the  abiding 
displeasure  of  the  deity,  and  awakened  a  new  con- 
sciousness of  guilt 2.  Thus  the  idea  of  the  expiation 
of  sin  gradually  tended  to  displace  or  modify  the 
primitive  conception  of  sacrifice  as  the  creation  or 
renewal  of  a  life-bond  between  the  deity  and  His 
worshippers 3.  The  levitical  sin-offering  is  in  all 

1  Cp.  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  in  J.  C.  pp.  31 5  foil.,  377.     Cp.  Ezek. 
xliii.  7  ;  xliv.  6  foil. 

2  Cp.  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  pp.  240,  374  ;  O.  T.  in 
J.  C.  p.  380 ;  Riehm,  Einleitung in  das  A.  T'.vol.  i.  p. 35 1 ;  Schultz,  ii. p.  176. 

3  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  pp.  330,  333. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP 


233 


essential  features  *  identical  with  the  ancient  sacrament 
of  communion  in  a  sacred  life l ' ;  but  the  men  of 
a  later  age  were  led  to  invest  the  ancient  form  of 
sacrifice  with  a  new  significance,  in  proportion  as  they 
came  to  realize  more  profoundly  the  inviolable  holiness 
of  Jehovah,  the  sinfulness  of  man,  and  the  consequent 
need  of  priestly  mediation. 

The  sin-offering  then  is  an  institution  distinctive  of 
the  Hebrew  cultus,  but  in  other  points  there  is  close 
affinity  between  the  sacrifices  of  Israel  and  those  of 
other  Semitic  tribes.  The  true  ideas  latent  in  ethnic 
sacrifice  appear  in  a  purified  and  developed  form  in 
the  levitical  system  :  for  instance,  the  conception  of 
the  sacrificial  meal  as  a  feast  of  communion  writh 
deity,  and  a  means  of  participation  in  the  sacred  life 
of  a  victim.  Again,  the  primitive  idea  that  the  offering 
is  a  tribute  to  the  divine  King  or  a  meal  conveyed 
to  Him,  underlies  such  phrases  as  'the  bread'  or 
'  food  of  Jehovah  V  The  last-mentioned  idea,  however, 
is  carefully  guarded  by  the  doctrine  that  God  has  no 
need  of  such  material  gifts,  whereas  the  pagan  belief 
was  that  the  deity  literally  feasted  on  the  flesh  of  the 
victim,  as  it  rose  from  the  altar  in  the  sublimated  form 
of  smoke  or  steam  3.  In  estimating  indeed  the  moral 
effect  of  the  levitical  worship  we  have  to  bear  in  mind, 
first,  the  fact  that  the  worshippers  were  for  the  most 
part  deeply  imbued  with  the  characteristic  teaching 
of  the  prophets  ;  secondly,  the  fact  that  in  post-exilic 
days  sacrificial  worship  necessarily  '  ceased  to  be  the 
expression  of  everyday  religion.'  Prof.  Robertson 
Smith  appositely  remarks  that  'the  very  features  of 
the  levitical  ordinances  which  seem  most  inconsistent 
with  spirituality  .  .  .  appear  in  a  very  different  light  in 

1  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites •,  p.  331. 

2  niiT  Dn? — a  name  applied  to  sacrifice  in  general.    See  Lev. iii.  II,  16  ; 
xxi.  6,  8,  17  ;  xxii.  25  ;  Num.  xxviii.  2  ;  Ezek.  xliv.  7  ;  Mai.  i.  7.    Cp.  Well- 
hausen,  Prolegomena,  pp.  61,  62.     The  phrase  Bread  of  God  in  John  vi. 
33  seems  to  imply  that  the  self-oblation  of  Christ  gives  perfect  satisfaction 
to  the  Father.     Cp.  Eph.  v.  2. 

3  See  Tylor,  Anthropology,  p.  365.   Ps.  1.  9  foil,  is  a  protest  against  this 
idea.  Cp.  Iren.  Haer.  iv.  18.  3  ;  Westcott,  Ep.  to  the  Hebrews,  pp.  286-287. 


234  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

the  age  after  the  exile,  when  the  non-ritual  religion  of 
the  prophets  went  side  by  side  with  the  Law,  and  sup- 
plied daily  nourishment  to  the  spiritual  life  of  those 
who  were  far  from  the  sanctuary  V 

The  above  considerations  may  guide  us  in  our 
survey  of  the  levitical  sacrifices.  It  only  remains  to 
bear  in  mind  ex  abundanti  cautela  that  the  completely- 
organized  system  is  the  result  of  a  long  and  slow 
development  of  traditional  usages,  each  of  which  had 
its  separate  history2. 

We  may  proceed  to  deal  first  with  the  names  and 
prominent  features  of  the  several  sacrifices  described 
in  the  Pentateuch, 

The  names  most  generally  employed  are  two :  a 
sacrifice  is  described  in  the  priestly  code  as  Qorban 
(LXX.  &opo*>),  *  a  gift/  or  as  Isk-sheh  (<W/a),  *  an  offering 
by  fire.'  The  first  is  the  wider  and  more  primitive 
designation,  and  includes  every  species  of  oblation. 
The  original  meaning  of  the  word  seems  to  be  '  some- 
thing presented  '  or  '  brought  near '  to  a  superior,  and 
it  corresponds  to  the  most  simple  aspect  of  sacrifice  as 
a  tribute  due  to  God 3.  The  second  term,  Isk-sheh, 
implies  the  established  use  of  fire  as  a  mode  of  con- 
sumption 4.  The  remaining  words  for  sacrifice  become 
specialized  by  limitation  of  their  usage.  The  most 
important  distinction  is  that  between  Minchah  (Ovo-ia), 
'  gift '  or  '  present/  which  though  applied  to  sacri- 
fice in  various  passages,  and  even  to  an  ordinary 
present 5,  is  in  the  priestly  code  restricted  entirely  to 
the  meal  or  vegetable  offering ;  and  Zebach,  '  slain 

1  O.T.mJ.Cpp.37^379- 

The  use  bT/Fn,  for  example,  as  a  mode  of  consumption  seems  to  have 
been  introduced  at  a  comparatively  late  stage  in  the  evolution  of  Semitic 
sacrifice.  That  it  was  a  subordinate  feature  seems  to  be  implied  in  the 
name  of  the  altar,  POTE,  '  place  of  slaughter.'  On  the  whole  subject  see 
Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  ch.  x,  and  below,  p.  238. 

3  Wellhausen,  Prolegomena,  p.  61.    The  vb.  S'npn  corresponds  to  p"tp. 
See  Lev.  i.  2  ;  ii.  n  ;  iii.  i,  £c. 

*  Lev.  i.  9,  13,  17  ;  ii.  2,  9,  &c.  ;  Num.  xv.  3 ;  xxviii.  8. 

5  Gen.  iv.  3-5  ;  Num.  xvi.  15  ;  i  Sam.  ii.  17  ;  Ps.  xl.6  (LXX. Tr/ 
&.c.     Cp.  Gen.  xxxii.  13  and  2  Sam.  viii.  2,  6. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  235 

sacrifice/  which  appears  to  be  a  more  ancient  designa- 
tion than  Minchah,  implying  nomadic  conditions  of 
life  such  as  would  ordinarily  precede  the  settled  habits 
of  an  agricultural  people  l. 

From  these  general  names  we  pass  on  to  consider  the 
three  main  classes  of  sacrifice  described  in  the  levitical 
Law  :  the  sin-offering  2,  with  its  special  variety,  the 
trespass-  or  guilt-offering  ;  the  burnt-offering 3,  which 
was  invariably  accompanied  by  a  meal-offering  and 
a  libation  of  wine ;  and  the  peace-offering 4,  including 
several  species,  such  as  the  '  vow,'  the  *  praise-offering,' 
and  the  '  free-will  oblation.'  Each  of  these  three  main 
divisions  of  sacrifice  is  connected  with  either  the 
renewal  or  the  maintenance  of  covenant  fellowship 
with  Jehovah.  The  order,  however,  of  their  historical 
development  is  to  be  carefully  distinguished  from  that 
of  the  detailed  treatment  in  the  book  of  Leviticus. 
When  the  three  classes  are  mentioned  together,  the 
essential  order  of  thought  seems  to  be  observed.  First 
in  order  stands  the  sin-offering,  implying  the  necessary 
expiation  of  guilt  which  might  have  severed  the 
Israelite  from  the  privileges  of  the  covenant ;  next  the 
burnt-offering,  suggesting  the  idea  of  renewed  self- 
dedication  ;  and,  lastly,  the  peace-offering,  with  its 
sacrificial  meal,  which  was  the  seal  as  it  were  of 


1  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  226. 

2  Heb.  riNDn, '  sin '  (LXX.  TTC/OI  d/aapn'as),  Lev.  iv.  24,  &c.  OB>N/  trespass ' 
(LXX.    zrepi   TTJS  TrXij/ijaeXeids)    is  scarcely  distinguishable  from  the  sin- 
offering.     Cp.  Lev.  v.  6-8.     See  below,  p.  238. 

3  Heb.  rhy  (oXoKauTcojua),  'that  which  ascends.'  To  this  corresponds  the 
vb.  ni?yn  ;    cp.  Ps.  li.  19.     Occasionally  the  poetical  word  ^3, '  whole- 
offering,'  occurs  (i  Sam.  vii.  9 ;  Deut.  xxxiii.  10).   With  the  burnt-offering 
were  offered  the  meal-offering  (nnJID)  and  the  drink-offering,  or  libation 
of  wine  (?JD3). 

4  D^D^  n2Tj '  slain- victim  of  Shelamim]  i.e. '  vows,'  from  vb.  Q7&/  pay ' 
or  '  discharge '  (Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  219  note),  or 
preferably  '  fullness '  of  salvation  (so  apparently  Wellhausen,  op.  cit.  p.  7 1 , 

and  Schultz,  i.  378).  The  sing.  DTP  occurs  only  in  Amos  v.  22.  The 
name,  according  to  Riehm,  conveys  the  notion  of  unimpaired  and  perfect 
fellowship.  The  peace-offering  is  a  symbol  of  peaceful  and  friendly  com- 
munion with  God  (ATI.  Theologie,  p.  120). 


236  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

restored    fellowship,    and    the    highest    expression    of 
perfect  communion  with  deity. 

All  these  classes  of  sacrifices  had  three  elements  in 
common.  In  each  case  there  was  the  ceremony  of 
presentation,  the  act  of  slaughtering,  and  the  disposal 
of  the  victim. 

The  victim  was  to  be  presented  at  the  door  of 
the  tabernacle  court  by  the  offerer  himself,  in  token 
of  that  willing  intention  which  constituted  the  accept- 
able element  in  the  oblation.  This  act  was  followed 
by  the  imposition  of  hands  (semichah\  i.  e.  an  actual 
pressure  of  both  hands  upon  the  victim's  head.  This 
rite  appears  to  have  implied  not  so  much  the  idea 
of  substitution,  or  transference  of  guilt,  though  it  was 
ordinarily  accompanied  by  detailed  confession  of  sins, 
as  that  of  entire  self-identification  with  the  victim, 
or  the  dedication  of  it  to  some  special  object  or 
office,  such  as  the  removal  of  guilt1.  The  slaughter 
of  the  victim  next  took  place.  This  was  performed 
by  the  offerer,  not  by  the  priest,  except  in  the  case 
of  a  sacrifice  offered  for  his  own  sin,  or  for  that 
of  the  whole  congregation  2.  The  slaying  3,  which 
took  place  on  the  north  side  of  the  altar  —  perhaps 
because  the  north  was  regarded  as  the  quarter  with 
which  judgment  or  punishment  was  connected— 
seems  to  have  had  no  independent  significance  ;  it 
served  simply  as  a  means  of  obtaining  the  blood  or 


1  On  the  rO^DD  see  Schultz,  i.  391,  who  seems  to  give  the  true  account 
with  clearness;  cp.  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  402  ;  West- 
cott,  Ep.  to  the  Hebrews,  p.  290  ;  Jukes,  The  Law  of  the  Offerings,  p.  38  : 
'  This  act  in  itself  "was  nothing  more  than  the  expression  of  the  identity  of 
the  offerer  and  offering.  .  .  .  The  offering,  whatever  it  might  be,  stood  for, 
and  was  looked  upon  as  identical  with,  the  offerer.'     Riehm,  A  77.  Theo- 
logie,  says  that  by  the  semichah  the  victim  was  made  '  Trager  der  Gesin- 
nungen,  die  er  (the  offerer)  gegeniiber  Gott  bethatigen  will.' 

2  See  Lev.  i.  5,  9  :  possibly  also  the  priest  slew  the  victim  in  the  rite 
for  cleansing  lepers.     See  Lev.  xiv.  13,  25,  and  cp.  Oehler,  i.  411.     In 
2  Chron.  xxix.  24  the  slaying  by  the  priests  seems  to  be  mentioned  as 
exceptional.     Ezek.  xliv.  10-16  shows  that  it  was  an  ignoble  office. 

3  The  Heb.  vb.  is  Bnj?.     Cp.  Lev.  i.  n,  and  see  Isa.  xli.  25,  Jer.  i.  14, 
li.  48.'    On  the  general  significance  of  the  slaughter  see  Oehler,  loc.  cit.  ; 
Schultz,  i.  394;  Westcott,  Ep.  to  the  Hebrews,  p.  291. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  237 

sacred  life.  The  Law  seems  to  have  laid  no  stress 
either  on  the  intrinsic  fact  of  suffering,  or  on  the 
material  value  of  the  sacrifice,  as  is  shown  by  the 
limited  scale  of  the  offerings  :  neither  hecatombs  of 
victims  nor  human  sacrifice  were  required  for  the  pur- 
poses of  acceptable  atonement.  Indeed,  it  is  clear 
that  the  significant  part  of  the  ceremony  was  not 
thought  to  lie  '  in  the  death  of  the  victim,  but  in  the 
application  of  its  life  blood1.' 

And  this  brings  us  to  the  third  point — the  disposal 
of  the  victim :  of  its  blood  and  its  flesh.  The 
blood  of  sacrifice  was  the  appointed  medium  of  atone- 
ment as  being  the  seat  of  the  sacred  life,  and  could 
accordingly  be  presented  only  through  the  media- 
tion of  the  priest2.  Without  going  here  into  special 
detail  it  is  sufficient  to  notice  that  the  mode  of 
dealing  with  the  blood  varied,  the  precise  variations 
being  minutely  specified.  Thus  in  the  case  of  the  burnt- 
offering  or  peace-offering  the  blood  was  thrown  or 
dashed3  against  the  sides  of  the  brazen  altar;  but 
in  the  case  of  a  sin-offering  part  of  it  was  solemnly 
sprinkled  on  the  horns  of  the  altar  when  offered  for 
a  private  person,  but  within  the  holy  place  on  the 
horns  of  the  incense  altar  when  offered  for  a  priest  or 
the  whole  congregation.  On  the  Day  of  Atonement 
there  came  as  it  were  a  climax  in  the  ascending  scale. 
On  that  day  alone  the  blood  was  carried  within  the 
veil  and  solemnly  sprinkled  by  the  High  Priest  upon 
the  mercy-seat  and  before  the  mercy -seat  seven  times  4. 
With  regard  to  the  disposal  of  the  flesh  the  Law 
required  that  the  victim  should  be  flayed  by  the  offerer 
and  divided,  and  then  consumed  by  fire  upon  the  altar  or 
elsewhere.  It  was  to  be  wholly  burnt  in  the  case  of 
the  burnt-offering,  in  part  only  if  the  sacrifice  was  a  sin- 
or  peace-offering.  The  use  of  fire  in  this  connexion  is 

1  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  319. 

2  Lev.  xvii.  n.  3  Heb.  pit  (LXX.  npoo-\(li>). 

4  Lev.  xvi.  14-19.  On  the  disposal  of  the  blood  in  Semitic  sacrifice  see 
Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  especially  lectures  v,  vi,  and  ix. 


238  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

noticeable.  In  primitive  ethnic  sacrifices  fire  would  be 
regarded  as  a  means  of  conveying  food  in  an  etherial- 
ized  form  to  the  deity ;  but  in  the  levitic  rites  it 
seems  to  be  employed  merely  as  a  safe  and  appropriate 
method  of  disposal,  when  the  flesh  of  the  victim  was 
regarded  as  a  thing  too  holy  to  be  touched,  or 
disposed  of  in  any  other  way,  even  by  consecrated 
persons l.  Through  the  action  of  fire  the  flesh  was 
finally  withdrawn  from  the  possibility  of  profane  use 
or  contact. 

Besides  these  general  elements  common  to  all 
sacrifices,  there  were  special  features  distinctive  of  each 
particular  class.  The  sin-offering  in  some  sense  ranks 
above  the  other  sacrifices  as  being  *  most  holy  *,' 
that  is,  entirely  withdrawn  from  ordinary  human  use. 
Whether  there  is  any  clear  distinction  between  the 
sin-offering  and  the  trespass-offering  is  disputed  ;  but 
one  thing  seems  evident,  viz.  that  the  entire  com- 
plicated system  of  atonement  existed  only  in  relation  to 
minor  offences,  committed  whether  through  ignorance, 
carelessness,  or  infirmity.  For  open  breaches  of 
the  ten  words — sins  with  a  high  hand* — there  was 
no  availing  atonement  possible  ;  they  were  to  be 
punished  with  death.  Such  sins  were  theoretically 
regarded  as  involving  a  presumptuous  violation  of 
covenant  conditions,  and  a  deliberate  withdrawal 
from  the  sphere  in  which  sacrifice  was  efficacious. 
Apparently,  however,  a  distinction  was  possible  in 
the  case  of  minor  transgressions.  The  trespass- 
offering  appears  to  have  implied  some  previous  act 
of  fraud ;  some  infraction  of  the  rights  of  ownership  ; 
some  withholding  from  God  of  His  due.  But  any 
artificial  distinction  between  the  sin-  and  the  trespass- 
offering  is  precarious  4.  The  two  species  of  sacrifice 

1  Cp.  Schultz,  i.  396  note  ;  Religion  of  the  Semites,  lect.  x. 
z  Lev.  vi.  17  and  25  foil. 

3  Heb.  n»n  T3.     Num.  xv.  30 ;  cp.  xxxiii.  3. 

4  On  this  point  see  Willis,    Worship  of  the  Old  Covenant,   ch.   vii. 
§  2  ;    Schultz,  i.    380.     Wellhausen,  Prolegomena,   pp.   74,  75,    observes 
that  '  the  sin-  and  trespass-offerings  of  the  Pentateuch  still  bear  traces  of 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP 


239 


seem,  however,  to  correspond  to  two  different  aspects 
of  human  sin,  regarded  as  demanding  expiation  on 
the  one  hand,  on  the  other  as  admitting  to  a  certain 
extent  of  reparation. 

In  the  ritual  of  the  sin-offering  some  special  points 
call  for  attention :  for  instance,  the  exact  specifi- 
cation of  the  victim,  which  differed  according  to  the 
grade  of  the  offerer  or  the  dignity  of  the  occasion  1 ; 
and  the  verbal  confession  of  sins  which  was  uttered  by 
the  worshipper  leaning  upon  the  victim's  head  2.  The 
most  characteristic  feature,  however,  of  the  sacrifice 
was  the  ceremonial  sprinkling  of  the  sacred  blood  at 
spots  to  which  belonged  different  degrees  of  sanctity, 
implying  different  stages  of  nearness  to  God.  On  the 
Day  of  Atonement,  by  the  sprinkling  of  the  blood  on 
the  mercy-seat  the  highest  moment  of  reconciliation 
known  to  the  Law  was  attained  :  the  life  of  the  people 
being  in  a  representative  act  of  dedication  brought  into 
closest  contact  with  the  divine  presence.  Noticeable 
also  is  the  disposal  of  the  victim's  flesh  :  all  the  fat,  as 
being  the  choicest  part,  was  burnt  upon  the  altar  for 
a  sweet  savour  unto  the  Lord* ;  the  remainder  of  the 
flesh  was  disposed  of  in  different  ways.  If  the  offering 
was  that  of  a  private  person  it  was  consumed  by  the 
priests  within  the  precincts  of  the  sanctuary 4 ;  but  in 
certain  cases,  when  the  sin-offering  was  that  of  a  priest 
or  of  the  entire  congregation,  it  was  regarded  as  too 
holy  to  be  eaten  even  by  consecrated  persons,  and  it  was 
burned  outside  the  camp,  as  the  safest  method  of  dis- 

their  origin  in  fines  and  penalties  ;  they  are  not  gifts  to  God,  .  .  .  they 
are  simpiy  mulcts  payable  to  the  priests,  partly  of  fixed  commutation 
value  (Lev.  v.  15).'  See  2  Kings  xii.  16  for  a  mention  of  '  trespass-money 
and  sin-money.' 

1  Lev.  iv. 

2  Lev.  v.  5  ;  Num.  v.  6  foil.     Cp.  Willis,  op.  cit.  p.  141. 

3  Lev.  iv.  31. 

4  Thus  the  sin-offering  retains  a  relic  of  the  ancient  sacrificial  feast  of 
communion,  only  the  communion  is  restricted  to  the  priests.     Obs.  Hos. 
iv.  8  implies  (i)  that  some  form  of  sin-offering  existed  in  the  prophetic 
period  ;  (2)  that  the  guilty  priests,  instead  of  attempting  to  stem  the  sin- 
fulness  of  the  people,  longed  for  its  increase  with  a  view  to  fresh  gains. 
See  Cheyne  ad  loc.  in  Camb.  Bible  for  Schools. 


240  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

posing  of  a  most  holy  thing.  The  culminating  service 
of  national  expiation,  which  was  solemnized  on  the  Day 
of  Atonement,  is  worthy  of  special  study,  because  it 
sums  up  and  interprets  the  significance  of  the  entire 
system  of  piacular  sacrifice.  In  the  ordinances  of  that 
day  we  see  k  writ  large '  the  conditions  of  access  to 
God,  the  method  by  which  the  state  of  covenant  privi- 
lege for  Jehovah's  people  was  renewed.  At  the  same 
time  the  mark  of  imperfection  was  visibly  impressed 
on  the  whole  procedure  of  the  day,  and  it  had  to  be 
yearly  repeated,  as  if  to  remind  the  people  that  their 
tenure  in  God's  house  was  not  absolute,  but  renewable 
only  from  year  to  year. 

The  burnt-offer  ing )  or  holocaust,  if  we  may  rely  on 
the  early  historical  notices,  was  apparently  known,  but 
not  very  commonly  practised,  in  the  patriarchal  period. 
There  are  traces  of  the  yet  more  primitive  slain-sacrifice 
with  its  sacred  meal  in  the  book  of  Genesis  l ;  and  the 
account  in  Gen.  xxii  of  the  offering  of  Isaac  marks,  as 
we  have  noticed,  a  critical  epoch  in  the  development  of 
the  doctrine  of  sacrifice.  The  passage  illustrates  the 
way  in  which  ethnic  corruptions  were  purified :  it 
disconnects  the  spirit  of  absolute  devotion  from  the 
necessity  of  any  particular  material  exhibition  of  it 2. 
Some  writers  have  supposed  that  the  use  of  fire  had 
its  origin  in  the  custom  of  human  sacrifice  ;  the  victim 
was  burned  in  a  spot  apart  from  men,  as  being  too 
sacred  to  be  eaten  :  but  whatever  be  its  origin,  the 
practice  of  burning  the  bodies  of  ordinary  animals  on 
the  altar  very  early  established  itself.  The  essential 
idea  of  the  holocaust  was  probably  that  of  a  grateful 
tribute  to  God  as  king.  It  would  be  an  exceptional 
form  of  sacrifice,  expressive  of  man's  grateful  dedica- 
tion of  himself  and  his  possessions  to  God.  Certainly 
in  its  developed  form  the  burnt-offering  would  present 
itself  to  the  mind  of  a  devout  Israelite  as  an  apt  symbol 

1  Gen.  xxxi.  54  ;  xlvi.  I. 

2  Westcott,  Ep.  to  the  Hebrews,  p.  284  ;  cp.  Oehler,  §  121,  note  I. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  241 

of  entire  self-consecration  to  God.  It  would  give  out- 
ward expression  to  the  spirit  of  perfect  devotion, 
conscious  of  the  infinite  gulf  that  separates  the  sinful 
creature  from  the  All-holy  l.  In  this  connexion  it  is 
significant  that  the  principal  act  of  public  worship  in 
the  days  of  the  second  temple  was  the  daily  or  con- 
tinual2 burnt-offering,  which  consisted  in  the  oblation 
of  a  spotless  lamb  every  morning  and  evening. 
Around  this  as  a  centre  were  grouped  the  prayers 
and  the  praises  of  Israel ;  it  formed  as  it  were  the 
foundation  of  the  whole  sacrificial  system.  Probably 
the  offering  of  incense  was  kindled  in  the  holy  place 
simultaneously  with  the  burnt-offering,  while  the  assem- 
bled congregation  stood  praying  without  in  the  court. 
Together  with  the  burnt-offering,  as  a  kind  of  supple- 
ment were  presented  the  Minchah  or  meal-offering 
(a  portion  of  which,  called  the  '  memorial  V  was  burned 
upon  the  altar),  and  the  drink-offering  consisting  of 
wine.  This  feature  was  one  common  to  the  Hebrew 
sacrifices  and  to  those  of  classic  paganism.  The  name 
Minchah  indicates  that  the  notion  of  the  meal-offering 
was  that  of  a  tribute  paid  by  the  worshipper  to  God 
and  wholly  given  over  to  Him,  whereas  in  the  case  of 
animal  sacrifice  there  was  originally  at  least  a  com- 
munion feast  in  which  God  and  the  offerer  shared. 
The  accessories  of  the  burnt-offering  are  among  those 
many  details  which  are  of  the  nature  of  survivals  in 
the  Mosaic  religion.  Certainly  when  sacrifice  had  be- 
come an  act  of  national  homage  to  Jehovah,  maintained 
at  the  public  cost,  the  daily  burnt-offering  acquired 
unique  importance  and  dignity.  We  may  judge  of 
the  importance  of  the  Tamid  or  '  continual '  burnt- 
offering  by  the  fact  that  its  cessation  was  thought 

1  Riehm.  ATI.  Theologie,^.  U9:'Wie  die  Erhabenheit  der  Gottheit 
iiber  die  irdische  Welt  in  alien  semitischen  Religionen  stark  betont  wird, 
und  im   Mosaismus   in  der  Idee  der  Heiligkeit  Jahves  mit  besonderem 
Nachdruck  sich  geltend  macht,  so  nimmt  auch  das  Brandopfer  im  Kultus 
Israels  die  Hauptstelle  em.' 

2  Ex.  xxix.  42 ;  Num.  xxviii.  3. 

3  (LXX.  p.vr)[ji6<Tuvoi>)  Lev.  ii.  2. 

R 


242  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

practically  to  involve  the  abolition  of  public  wor- 
ship1. Its  maintenance  came  to  be  regarded  as  the 
absolutely  necessary  condition  of  covenant-union  be- 
tween Jehovah  and  His  people,  and  in  daily  life  the 
devout  Jew  followed  'with  an  inward  longing  and 
spiritual  sympathy  the  national  homage  which  continu- 
ally ascended  on  behalf  of  himself  and  all  the  people  of 
God  in  the  stated  ritual  of  the  Temple  V 

The  levitical  system  of  sacrifice  is  completed  by  the 
peace-offering,  which  is  of  peculiar  interest  as  repro- 
ducing in  a  higher  and  more  spiritual  form  the  main 
features  of  primaeval  sacrifice.  Originally,  when  the 
slaying  of  animals  for  food  was  a  comparatively  rare 
event,  all  slaughter  was  regarded  as  a  sacrificial  act ; 
and,  conversely,  a  sacrifice  was  habitually  connected 
with  a  communion  feast.  Accordingly  the  Zebachim 
represent  the  original  type  of  sacrifice  out  of  which  all 
other  forms  were  developed.  In  early  ages  sacrifice 
was  a  family  or  tribal  action,  the  object  of  which  was 
to  re-establish  the  bond  of  communion  or  fellowship 
between  the  tribe  and  its  god  through  joint  participa- 
tion in  a  sacred  victim.  Such  sacrifices  followed  by 
feasts  were  characteristic  of  a  period  when  religious 
ideas  were  of  a  physical  cast,  it  being  the  fundamental 
conception  of  ancient  religion  that  the  gods  and  their 
worshippers  formed  one  community  united  by  the  tie  of 
kinship  3.  .  The  evidence  of  the  earlier  Old  Testament 
books  shows  that  the  primitive  religion  of  Israel  so 
far  resembled  in  its  general  character  that  of  the  other 
Semites,  that  '  a  meal  was  almost  always  connected 
with  a  sacrifice4.'  'In  ancient  Israel,'  says  Cornill, 

1  See  Dan.  viii.  n  foil,  xi.  31  ;  cp.  xii.  n.     Wellhausen,  Prolegomena, 
p.  79,  says :  '  According  to  2  Kings  xvi.  15,  an  n/JJ  in  the  morning  and  a 
nnj£  in  the  evening  were  daily  offered  in  the  temple  of  Jerusalem,  in  the 
time  of  Ahaz.  ...  In  the  Priestly  Code  the  evening  Minchah  has  risen  to 
the  dignity  of  a  second  'Olah\  but  at  the  same  time  survives  the  daily 
Minchah  of  the  high-priest,  and  is  now  offered  in  the  morning  also  (Lev. 
vi.  12-16).' 

2  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  inj.  C.  p.  252. 

3  See  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  33. 

4  Cp.  Wellhausen,  Prolegomena,  p.  71  ;  Cornill,  Der  Israelitische  Pro- 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP 


243 


'  the  worship  of  Jehovah  had  always  a  blithe  and 
joyous  character.  ...  It  consisted  in  making  merry 
before  God.  In  the  sacrifice,  of  which  God  received 
a  definite  portion,  while  the  worshipper  himself  con- 
sumed the  rest,  a  man  entered  into  table-fellowship 
with  Deity;  he  was  the  guest  of  his  .God,  and 
thereby  became  doubly  assured  of  union  with  Him.' 
When,  however,  the  Deuteronomic  law  of  one  sanc- 
tuary and  one  altar  came  into  force,  the  eating  of  flesh 
inevitably  ceased  to  be  a  purely  religious  act.  It  is 
deeply  interesting,  however,  to  observe  that  the  crowning 
sacrifice  of  the  levitical  system  consecrates,  as  it  were, 
the  very  oldest  forms  of  Hebrew  worship,  and  repro- 
duces in  an  age  of  heightened  spiritual  aspiration  the 
mystical  idea  which  underlay  the  ancient  sacrificial 
meal,  viz.  that  man's  highest  life  consists  in  living 
fellowship  with  God,  which  is  most  appropriately 
typified  by  a  sacred  meal  \ 

There  were  some  peculiar  features  in  the  ritual  of 
the  peace-offering.  A  larger  latitude  was  allowed  in 
the  choice  of  a  victim,  and  there  were  certain  ceremonies 
of  presentation — 'heaving'  and  'waving2' — of  which 
the  explanation  is  somewhat  doubtful ;  but  the  most 
prominent  feature  of  the  sacrifice  was  the  subsequent 
meal,  in  which  God,  the  officiating  priest,  and  the 
offerer,  together  with  his  friends  and  such  poor  as 
he  might  invite,  alike  participated.  The  inner  fat 
portions — those  in  which  the  sacred  life  was  believed 
specially  to  reside — were  burned  upon  the  altar  as  the 


phetismus,  pp.  38  foil.;  Robertson  Smith,  The  Prophets  of  Israel  (ed.  i), 
pp.  98,  99 ;  and  Religion  of  the  Semites,  pp.  236  foil. 

1  Conversely,  the  sin  of  '  eating  upon  the  mountains '  (Ezek.  xviii.  6  foil.) 
consisted  in  the  fact  that  it  involved  holding  communion  with  false  gods  : 
the  meal  was  a  token  of  fellowship  as  a  guest  with  the  idol.     Cp.  the 
argument  of  I  Cor.  x.  20. 

2  Heb.  rHDIin  and  ns'Ofi.     The  ceremony  probably  implied  simple  pre- 
sentation to  God,  the  'waving '  being  a  movement  to  and  fro,  the  *  heaving ' 
a  movement  up  and   down.     Rabbinic  writers,  however,  explain   it  as 
a  recognition  of  the  divine  omnipresence.      See  Oehler,  §  133  (vol.  ii. 
pp.  6  foil.) ;  and  some  interesting  details  mentioned  in  Willis,  Worship, 
&c.,  pp.  175  foil. 

R  2 


244  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

portion  appropriated  to  the  deity ;  the  wave-breast 
was  the  perquisite  of  the  whole  body  of  priests,  the 
heave-shoulder  of  the  officiating  minister.  All  that 
remained  was  eaten  by  the  offerer  and  his  friends  on 
the  day  of  sacrifice,  those  who  took  part  in  the  meal 
being  obliged  to  be  ceremonially  clean  l.  The  broad 
conception  of  the  whole  ceremony  was  that  God  re- 
ceived the  offerer  at  His  table,  the  part  returned  to  the 
worshipper  being  made  the  occasion  of  a  blessing  in 
which  others  might  share.  Such  was  the  main  cha- 
racteristic of  the  peace-offering  in  all  its  forms ;  the 
special  species  of  such  offerings,  whether  votive,  free- 
will, or  eucharistic,  it  is  unnecessary  for  present  pur- 
poses to  describe  in  detail. 


IV. 

Our  object  in  these  lectures  is  to  indicate  the  princi- 
ples which  should  guide  a  Christian  student  in  his  use 
of  the  Old  Testament.  Having  therefore  briefly  de- 
scribed the  two  principal  institutions  in  which  the 
covenant-relationship  that  subsisted  between  Jehovah 
and  His  chosen  people  found  expression,  it  remains 
to  consider  the  symbolic  significance  of  the  sanctuary 
as  illustrated  by  the  express  teaching  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  the  spiritual  ideas  which  the  sacri- 
ficial system  was  intended  to  embody. 

And  here  we  must  proceed  with  caution.  What  is 
called  typical  interpretation  consists  in  the  application  of 
things  and  incidents  described  in  the  Old  Testament  to 
those  which  are  recorded  in  the  New  2.  And  the  ques- 
tion may  fairly  be  asked,  How  are  we  to  determine  in 
any  given  instance  whether  a  thing  is  typical  or  not  ? 

1  Lev.  vii.  19. 

2  '  Typus  hisloriae  est  sensus  Scripturae  mysticus,  quo  res  gestae  vel 
facta  Vet.  Testament!  praefigurant  et  adumbrant  res  in  Novo  Testamento 
gestas.'    Glassius  ap.  Waterland,  pref.  to  Scriptiire  Vindicated  (Works, 
vol.  vi.  p.  12).     Glassius  distinguishes  between  types  historical  and  pro- 
phetical.   The  ceremonial  law  is  an  instance  of  the  first,  Jeremiah  making 
yokes  and  bonds  (Jer.  xxvii.  2)  of  the  second. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  245 

The  answer  has  been  given,  that  since  the  warrant  for 
typical  interpretation  is  supplied  by  Holy  Scripture 
itself,  we  are  not  justified  in  going  beyond  the  limits 
which  it  expressly  sanctions  in  various  instances.  In 
spite  of  its  habitual  reserve  on  such  points,  there  are 
certain  cases  in  which  the  New  Testament  itself 
indicates  that  two  objects  or  incidents  '  were  so  con- 
nected that  the  one  was  designed  to  prefigure  the  other ' ; 
that  both  were  in  fact  'fore-ordained  as  constituent 
parts  of  the  same  general  scheme  of  providence  V 
Others,  while  recognizing  the  necessity  of  safeguards 
against  abuse  of  the  method  in  question,  plead  for 
a  certain  liberty  of  interpretation,  *  beyond  the  pre- 
cedent, but  according  to  the  spirit  of  Scripture 2.'  In 
the  case,  however,  of  the  Jewish  sanctuary  and  ritual 
we  are  not  left  destitute  of  a  key  which  unlocks  the 
spiritual  sense  of  the  passages  describing  them.  More- 
over, the  belief  that  the  ordinances  of  Hebrew  religion 
were  intended  to  foreshadow  the  mysteries  of  the  new 
dispensation  may  legitimately  be  inferred  from  the  very 
notion  of  inspiration.  For  inspiration  implies  a  special 
action  of  the  one  Spirit  of  Him  to  whom  all  his  works 
are  known  from  the  beginning  of  the  world21,  an  opera- 
tion whereby  He  ever  guided  and  controlled  the  course 
of  redemptive  history,  and  continuously  informed  the 
minds  of  those  who  from  time  to  time  assisted  in 
organizing  the  polity,  the  law,  or  the  ceremonial 
worship  of  Israel.  At  the  same  time  revelation  has 
been  progressive,  accommodating  itself  to  the  actual 
condition  of  mankind,  through  material  things  and 
rudimentary  institutions  indicating  its  spiritual  purpose 
and  goal.  Thus  it  is  that  the  New  Testament  writers 
discern  in  the  Law  at  once  a  temporary  discipline  and 
a  prophecy  of  good  things  to  come  4.  Their  general 

1  See  Marsh,  Lectures  on  the  Criticism  and  Interpretation  of  the  Bible, 

PP-  375,  376. 

2  Newman,  The  Arians  of  the  Fourth  Century,  ch.  i.  §  3. 

3  Acts  xv.  1 8. 

4  Iren.//dw.  iv.  15.  I  :  '  Lex  et  disciplina  erat  illis  et  prophetia  futuro- 
rum.'     Cp.  Heb.  x.  I.     A  historical  sketch  of  the  patristic  view  of  the 


246  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

view  of  the  Old  Testament  as  a  vast  prophecy  is  based 
on  the  principle  that  in  revelation  as  in  nature  there  is 
continuity ;  and  speaking  broadly,  their  conception 
has  absolutely  justified  itself  in  Christian  experience. 
Even  the  fantastic  ingenuity  and  extravagance  in 
exegesis  which  occasionally  disfigure  the  writings  of 
the  fathers  may  be  regarded  as  only  instances  of  the 
misapplication  of  a  principle  both  simple  and  true  : 
the  unity  of  Scripture  and  the  continuity  of  revelation 
alike  bearing  witness  to  the  unity  of  their  Author,  and 
of  His  purpose  for  mankind.  The  levitical  cultus  in 
particular  is  a  product  too  intricate  and  mysterious  to 
allow  us  for  a  moment  to  suppose  that  it  was  an  anti- 
quated and  meaningless  excrescence  upon  a  decaying 
system.  Further,  criticism  teaches  us  that  in  its 
developed  shape  the  cultus  was  inspired  by  thoughts 
which  a  Christian  knows  to  be  eternally  true.  It 
was  intended  to  give  outward  expression  to  that 
thought  of  divine  indwelling  which  has  been  realized 
in  the  Incarnation  and  in  the  experience  of  the 
Christian  Church.  Ezekiel's  vision  of  a  city  which  is 
Jehovah's  dwelling-place  is  essentially  identical  with 
St.  John's  conception  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem  *. 
Accordingly,  it  is  natural  and  reasonable  to  discern  in 
every  detail  of  the  Jewish  ritual  a  divine  thought, 
a  spiritual  idea,  foreshadowed  dimly  in  the  legal  type, 
but  manifested  in  Jesus  Christ ;  Nihil  enim  vac^^,un^ 
neque  sine  signo  apiid  Deum  2.  As  we  learn  from  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  the  whole  system  of  worship 
was  the  pattern  and  shadow  of  heavenly  realities  ;  the 
holy  places  made  with  hands  ^^.r^  figures  of  the  true\ 
under  material  symbols  and  visible  arrangements  were 
continuously  disclosed  thoughts  which  the  Holy  Spirit 

Ceremonial  Law  will  be  found  in  Diestel,  Geschichte  des  A.  T.  in  der 
christlichen  Kirche,  §  7. 

1  Ezek.  xlviii.  35  ;  Rev.  xxi.  3,  22,  23. 

2  Iren.  iv.  21,  3.      Cp.  Orig.  de  Princ.  iv.  6  TO  evvTrdpxov  (pas 
po/nco  KaXvp.fj.aTi  eVriTroKe/cpu/ijuej/oi/  (rvWAafi\//>e  rfj  'I^frou  emdrj/Jiia,  rr 

TOV  KaXvpfjuiTos,  Kai  T&V  ayaOtoV  Kara  /Spa^u  fls  yva,(riv  fp\op.fva)V  coy  ovaaj/ 
TO  y poppa. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  247 

intended  to  teach  from  the  first1.  In  fact,  we  miss  the 
real  purport  of  the  minute  descriptions  of  the  taber- 
nacle and  its  worship  contained  in  the  Pentateuch  if 
we  fail  to  discern  beneath  the  picture  of  the  ideal 
sanctuary  the  outlines  of  the  kingdom  of  God  which 
is  destined  to  find  its  consummation  in  the  perfected 
Church  of  the  redeemed. 

For  the  Mosaic  tabernacle  seems  to  give  concrete 
and  pictorial  expression  to  three  fundamental  truths 
of  catholic  religion. 

First,  it  was  a  symbol  of  the  right  of  access  to 
God  vouchsafed  by  the  divine  mercy  to  man.  The 
tabernacle  was  the  tent  of  meeting*,  the  spot  where 
God  could  be  approached,  and  where  He  deigned, 
under  conditions  of  His  own  appointment,  to  draw 
near  to  man.  The  writer  to  the  Hebrews  points 
out  that  in  Jesus  Christ  man  acquires  the  right  of 
priestly  access  to  God.  In  Him  as  the  representa- 
tive of  His  redeemed  people  we  can  draw  near  in 
full  assurance  of  faith  ;  we  can  come  boldly  unto  the 
throne  of  grace*.  In  union  with  Him  the  individual 
soul  may  perpetually  enjoy  that  privilege  which  was 
imperfectly  foreshadowed  by  the  solitary  entry  of 
the  High  Priest,  on  one  day  only  in  the  year,  into 
the  Holy  of  Holies.  The  proof  of  divine  inspiration 
in  the  account  of  the  tabernacle  lies  not  necessarily 
in  its  actual  correspondence  with  fact,  but  rather  in 
the  ideal  anticipations  of  which  it  is  the  product.  It 
bears  witness  to  the  consciousness,  which  ever  haunted 
the  Israelite,  of  his  vocation  to  communion  and  con- 
verse with  God. 

Secondly,  the  tabernacle  was  the  abode  where  God 
made  His  dwelling  in  the  midst  of  His  people.  Hence 


1  Heb.  ix.  8  TOVTO  dr]\ovvTOS  TOV   IIvevpaTOS  TOV   d-yi'ov,  K.T.X.      Cp.   Heb. 
viii.  5,  ix.  24. 

2  lyiD  7HK.     Exod.  xxvii.  21  ;  cp.  xxix.  42. 

3  Heb.  x.  22,  iv.  16.      Cp.  vii.  25,  &c.,  and  observe  the  frequent  use  of 
the  words   Trpoaep^eo-^m,  iyyi&tv  in   the   Epistle.     See  also  Rom.  v.  2 ; 
Eph.  ii.  18,  iii.  12. 


248  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

it  is  frequently  called  Jehovah's  dwelling-place1, 
wherein  He  deigned  to  walk  with  His  ancient  people 
throughout  the  days  of  their  pilgrimage  in  the  wilder- 
ness. It  prefigured  that  mystery  of  condescension 
which  was  fulfilled  in  the  tabernacling  of  the  divine 
Word  made  flesh  among  men  2.  It  was  a  visible 
emblem  of  that  body  of  the  incarnate  Redeemer 
which  was  the  '  temple  '  or  tabernacle  indwelt  by 
His  divine  person.  The  simplicity  of  the  ancient 
shepherd's  tent  probably  suggested  its  structure  and 
arrangements.  But  another  name  of  the  tabernacle 
indicated  a  more  advanced  and  spiritual  conception  of 
the  divine  indwelling  :  namely,  the  phrase  tent  of  the 
testimony*,  which  implied  that  Jehovah's  presence 
among  His  people  was  'a  moral  fact  conditioned  by 
God's  covenant  grace  '  rather  than  any  mere  local 
proximity.  It  was  the  moral  law  that  was  Israel's  true 
glory,  and  formed  the  pledge  of  its  special  nearness 
to  God. 

Lastly,  in  its  structure  and  characteristic  services 
the  tabernacle  was  an  emblem  of  the  inaccessible 
holiness  of  Jehovah.  Its  arrangements  and  ritual  were 
intended  indeed  to  satisfy  man's  desire  for  approach 
to  God,  but  the  privilege  of  access  was  jealously 
restricted.  The  Jewish  worshipper  was  held,  so  to 
speak,  at  arm's  length.  He  was  constantly  reminded 
of  the  gulf  that  intervened  between  sinful  man,  what- 
ever might  be  his  aspirations,  and  the  all-holy  God. 
The  very  fact  that  human  approach  to  God  was 
possible  only  under  the  most  jealous  restrictions 
served  to  bring  home  forcibly  to  the  heart  of  the 
Israelite  the  inherent  imperfection  of  the  whole  ancient 
system.  *  The  inaccessibility,'  remarks  Dr.  Bruce  4, 


See  Exod.  xxv.  8,  9  ;  cp.  xxix.  45,  46.      The  tabernacle  was 
the  place  of  the  ruW. 

2  See  2  Sam.  vii.  6  foil.    Cp.  John  i.  14,  ii.  19  ;  Rev.  xxi.  3. 

3  nnyn  ?nx.    Num.  ix.  15.    Cp.  Exod.  xxxviii.  21,  &c.  ;  and  see  Schultz, 
O.  T.  Theology,  i.  353  foil. 

4  In  an  exposition  of  Heb.  ix.  i-io  ;  see  Expositor^  ser.  3,  no.  Ix  (Dec. 
1889). 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  249 

'  was  not  absolute,  but  the  solitary  exception  made  the 
sense  of  inaccessibility  more  intense  than  if  there  had 
been  no  exception.  Had  entrance  been  absolutely 
forbidden,  men  would  have  regarded  the  inner 
sanctuary  as  a  place  with  which  they  had  no  concern, 
and  would  have  ceased  to  think  of  it  at  all.  But  the 
admission  of  their  highest  representative  in  holy  things 
on  one  solitary  day  in  the  year  taught  them  that  the 
most  holy  place  was  a  place  with  which  they  had  to 
do,  and  at  the  same  time  showed  it  to  be  a  place 
very  difficult  of  access.'  This  indeed  seems  to  have 
been  the  true  import  of  the  arrangement,  the  Holy 
Ghost  signifying  this  thereby1.  It  was  a  perpetual 
memorial  to  the  Jew  of  the  divine  holiness.  It  was 
a  tabernacle  of  the  congregation  only  in  the  sense  that 
the  people  in  the  person  of  their  divinely-appointed 
representative  there  met  with  God  '2.  The  structure 
of  the  tent  and  the  regulations  in  regard  to  entry 
taught  in  the  most  impressive  way  the  truth  that  with- 
out holiness  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord* ;  and  indeed 
this  was  perhaps  the  most  significant  of  the  purposes 
served  by  the  picture  of  the  ancient  sanctuary.  It 
fulfilled  a  function  corresponding  to  its  place  in  the 
system  of  divine  education.  The  restrictions  under 
which  approach  to  God  was  allowable,  qualified  the 
sense  of  His  gracious  condescension  by  laying  deep 
the  foundations  of  holy  fear.  Ye  shall  reverence  my 
sanctuary,  says  the  Law  of  holiness  :  /  am  Jehovah  4. 
And  it  is  obvious  that  only  when  the  immeasurable 
interval  subsisting  between  the  divine  nature  and  the 
human  had  been  adequately  realized,  was  the  founda- 
tion prepared  for  a  true  doctrine  of  their  union 
in  the  person  of  the  incarnate  Son  of  God.  The 
religious  idea  of  God's  distinctness  from  nature  was 

1  Heb.  ix.  8. 

The  above  A.  V.  translation  of  '  Ohel  Moed  is  thus  incorrect.     See 
Willis,  Worship,  &c.,  p.  68. 

3  Heb.  xii.  14.     See  Riehm,  A  77.  Theologie,  p.  88. 

4  Lev.  xix.  30,  xxvi.  2.     On  the  natural  basis  of  this  fear  or  reverence 
for  holy  places  see  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  lectt.  iii,  iv. 


250  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

educated  by  a  moral  discipline  which,  while  it  em- 
phasized the  possibility  of  union  between  God  and 
man,  deepened  the  consciousness  of  a  barrier  which 
only  divine  grace  could  remove  1. 

.  When  we  turn  to  the  sacrificial  system  we  still  find 
ourselves  under  the  guidance  of  the  apostolic  writer  who 
first  explicitly  draws  out  the  general  significance  of  the 
levitical  sanctuary.  In  regard  to  the  law  of  the  offerings, 
his  teaching  implies  that  they  were  divinely  intended  to 
foreshadow  the  mystery  of  Christ's  person  and  work, 
and  their  intricacy  and  many-sidedness  corresponds 
to  the  diversity  of  aspects  under  which  the  work  of 
redemption  may  be  contemplated  -.  The  analogy  of 
the  Gospels  illustrates  the  mode  in  which  a  Christian 
student  may  use  the  Old  Testament  types.  Speaking 
generally,  each  Gospel  gives  a  separate  view  of  Christ's 
person,  just  as  each  parable  in  St.  Matthew's  thirteenth 
chapter  presents  some  different  aspect  of  the  divine 
kingdom.  So  it  is  with  the  Old  Testament  sacrifices. 
When  Faustus  the  Manichaean  complains  that  they 
are  no  better  than  a  system  of  idol-worship  in  which 
the  Church  by  accepting  the  Old  Testament  becomes 
a  partaker,  Augustine  replies  by  explaining  their  real 
significance  for  Christians.  Though  they  do  not,  he 
says,  form  any  part  of  our  practice,  yet  we  welcome  them 
among  the  other  mysteries  of  Holy  Scripture  as  aiding 
us  to  understand  the  things  which  they  prefigured. 
1  Even  these,'  he  continues,  '  were  our  examples 3,  and 

1  On  the  symbolism  of  the  tabernacle,  see  Note  A  at  the  close  of  the 
lecture. 

2  Novatian,  de  Trin.  ix :   '  Hunc  enim  Jesum  Christum  .  .  .  et  in  Veteri 
Testamento  legimus  esse  repromissum  et  in  Novo  Testamento  animad- 
vertimus  exhibitum,  omnium  sacramentorum  umbras  et  figuras  de  prae- 
sentia  corporatae  veritatis  implentem.'  Cp.  Jukes,  The  Law  of  the  Offerings, 
p.  41  :  'The  offering  of  Christ  .  .  .  was  but  one,  and  but  once  offered  ;  but 
the  shadows  vary  in  shape  and  outline  according  to  the  point  from  whence, 
and  the  light  in  which  they  are  looked  upon.     In  other  words,  the  one 
offering  had  several  aspects,  and  each  aspect  required  a  separate  picture. 
Had   Christ's  fulness  and  relations  been  less  manifold,  fewer  emblems 
might  have  sufficed  to  represent  them ;  but  as  they  are  many,  and  each 
to  be  variously  apprehended,  no  one   emblem,  however  perfect,  could 
depict  them  all.' 

3  I  Cor.  x.  6. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  251 

all  such  ordinances  in  many  and  varied  fashions  fore- 
shadowed that  one  sacrifice  whereof  we  now  celebrate 
the  memorial.  Hence  since  it  has  been  revealed,  and 
in  due  time  offered,  the  ancient  rites  have  been 
removed  from  the  sphere  of  frequent  observance,  but 
in  the  way  of  signification  they  have  remained  authori- 
tative V  This  statement  corresponds  to  Augustine's 
distinction  between  Old  Testament  ordinances  as 
partly  praecepta  vitae  agendac,  partly  praecepta  vitae 
significanctae.  The  moral  law  given  to  the  Jews  is  of 
permanent  obligation,  the  ritual  directions  are  of  per- 
manent significance.  Like  prophecy,  the  ceremonial 
code  laid  hold  of  eternal  principles,  and  in  so  doing 
foreshadowed  the  future  developments  of  the  divine 
purpose.  Consequently,  as  Augustine  elsewhere  ob- 
serves, the  Apostle  speaks  not  of  the  abolition  of 
the  Law,  but  of  the  doing  away  in  Christ  of  the  veil 
which  concealed  its  true  sense  2. 

The  writer  to  the  Hebrews  regards  Christianity 
mainly  under  one  aspect — as  the  final  or  absolute 
religion.  It  has  the  characteristic  of  perfection 
(TeXeiWw),  inasmuch  as  it  establishes  that  unimpeded 
fellowship  between  God  and  man  which  in  the 
levitical  system  was  adumbrated  but  not  attained. 
The  faith  of  Christ  is  the  religion  of  the  better  hope, 
whereby  we  draw  nigh  unto  Godz.  For  Jesus  Christ 
fulfils  in  Himself  two  distinct  types  of  priesthood.  He 
is  a  priest  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek ;  His  priest- 
hood belongs  to  an  order  eternal  and  supra-national. 
It  is  based  on  divine  promises  and  combines  with 
sacerdotal  functions  those  of  royalty ;  it  is  the  medium 
of  high  and  heavenly  blessings  to  mankind.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  Christ  is  the  antitype  of  the  Aaronic 
priest.  He  fulfils  all  that  was  prefigured  in  the 
levitical  ordinances  by  offering  Himself  as  a  spotless 
victim,  and  by  entering  within  the  veil  of  the  trite 

1  c.  Faust.  Manich.  vi.  5  ;  cp.  vi.  2. 

2  de  util.  cred.  9  (2  Cor.  iii.  14).     Cp.  Bas.  de  Spir.  sancto,  21. 

3  Heb.  vii.  II  and  19. 


252  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

tabernacle^,  there  to  present  Himself  in  the  presence 
of  God  on  behalf  of  His  brethren  and  to  dedicate 
them  in  His  own  representative  person  for  the  life  of 
acceptable  service  2.  As  the  true  Melchizedek,  Christ 
bestows  blessing,  and  feeds  His  people  with  eucharistic 
bread  and  wine :  as  the  true  priest  of  Aaron's  line, 
He  purges  the  whole  sphere  of  man's  worship  with 
His  own  blood  ;  He  cleanses  the  individual  conscience 
from  the  defilement  of  sin  ;  He  ever  liveth  to  make 
intercession  3. 

Such  is  the  well-known  teaching  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews,  which  gives  a  sanction  to  the  patristic 
view  of  the  sacrificial  ritual ;  and  having  this  sanction 
we  may  proceed  to  inquire  what  were  the  main  ideas 
symbolized  in  the  cultiis,  and  how  they  were  fulfilled 
in  the  work  of  Christ. 

We  have  seen  that  the  informing  idea  of  the 
levitical  sanctuary,  as  sketched  first  by  Ezekiel  and 
afterwards  in  the  priestly  code,  was  that  of  Jehovah's 
presence  in  the  midst  of  Israel4.  The  thought  that 
inspires  the  sacrificial  ritual  seems  to  be  that  of 
maintaining  Jehovah's  covenant.  Thus  its  fundamental 
significance  is  ethical,  for  the  covenant  implied  on 
the  one  side  Jehovah's  grace,  on  the  other  Israel's 
moral  obedience.  The  sacrifices  were  full  of  spiritual 
symbolism :  they  spoke  of  self-surrender  and  devotion 
to  the  will  of  God ;  of  the  need  of  forgiveness  and  the 
blessings  of  divine  fellowship.  The  prophetic  teaching 
as  to  Jehovah's  requirement  gave  them  a  typical 
meaning  which,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  language 
of  some  of  the  Psalms,  was  transparent  enough  to 
devout  and  thoughtful  minds.  The  burnt-offering, 
for  instance,  was  a  vivid  type  of  man's  willing  self- 
surrender  in  a  life  of  unbroken  obedience ;  the  sin- 
offering  with  its  ceremonial  sprinkling  of  blood  spoke 
of  the  submissive  acceptance  of  penalty  by  the  sinner 

1  Heb.  viii.  2.  2  Heb.  vii.  27  ;  viii.  3  :  ix.  14,  26  ;  x.  10  foil. 

3  Heb.  ix.  13,  14,  23  foil. ;  vii.  25. 

4  See  Ezek.  xxxvii.  26-28  ;  Exod.  xxix.  45,  46. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP 


253 


as  the  necessary  condition  of  forgiveness ;  the  peace- 
offering  with  its  communion-feast  expressed  the  idea 
of  fellowship  between  God  and  man  renewed  and 
consummated.  Here,  then,  were  prefigured  in  broad 
outline  the  moral  conditions  of  man's  reunion  with 
God  :  but  in  the  fulfilment  of  them  by  Jesus  Christ 
even  the  minor  details  of  the  cultiis  were  found  to 
possess  a  previously  unsuspected  significance. 

i.  For,  in  the  first  place,  Christ's  life  of  perfect 
devotion  to  the  will  of  God  is  the  antitype  of  the 
burnt-offering.  His  whole  life  is  comprehended  by 
St.  Paul  in  the  single  word  obedience^ — an  obedience 
which  was  an  integral  element  in  the  acceptableness 
of  His  self-oblation.  In  Christ  man  rendered  to  God 
that  which  alone  could  satisfy  Him,  a  whole-hearted 
self-devotion,  a  perfect  consecration  of  every  faculty— 
of  will,  thought,  and  affection 2.  That  element  of 
voluntariness  which  from  the  nature  of  the  case  could 
not  be  represented  by  an  irrational  victim  was  in  the 
highest  measure  present  in  the  oblation  of  Christ's 
life.  He  discharged  the  covenant  obligation  of  obedi- 
ence which  Israel  could  not  render,  and  crowned  it  by 
the  surrender  of  His  life.  For  the  death  upon  the 
cross  cannot  be  separated  from  the  earthly  pilgrimage 
which  it  consummated3.  It  was  the  highest  exhibition 
of  that  love  wherewith  Christ  loved  tis  and  gave  him- 
self for  us  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice  to  God  for  a  sweet- 
smelling  savour  4. 

The  life  and  ministry  of  Jesus  were  in  fact  prefigured 
by  the  Tamid  or  continual  offering  which  was  intended 
to  remind  Israel  of  its  ideal  vocation.  Day  and  night 
without  intermission  there  ascended  from  the  temple 

1  Rom.  v.  19  ;  cp.  Phil.  ii.  8. 

2  Cp.  Lev.  i.  8,  9;  and  see  Matt.  iii.  17,  xii.  18,  xvii.  5,  xxii.  37 ;  John 
viii.  29.    Observe,  the  fire  which  consumed  the  burnt-offering  is  an  emblem 
of  the  perpetual  devotion  of  love  (cp.  John  xiv.  31),     See  Euthymius  on 
Heb.  ix.  14  (quoted  by  Westcott,  ad  loc.). 

3  Cp.  Heb.  x.  i-io. 

4  Eph.  v.  2.    Observe  the  phrase  oo>u}  eucoSi'm?,  which  is  used  also  of  the 
burnt-offering  and  symbolizes  divine  acceptance.    See  Gen.  viii.  21  ;  Lev. 
i-  9>  T3>  J7  5  cp.  Ezek.  xx.  41. 


254  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

court  into  the  clear  air  the  smoke  of  the  sacrifice 
which  lay  upon  the  brazen  altar.  It  was  at  once 
a  memorial  wherein  Israel  was  as  it  were  continually 
presented  before  God,  and  a  striking  emblem  of 
that  to  which  as  a  holy  people  it  had  pledged  itself1, 
the  whole-hearted  and  unbroken  service  of  Jehovah. 
But  the  daily  burnt-offering  was  a  type  fulfilled  only  in 
the  life  of  Christ — in  the  perfection  of  His  self-sur- 
render, in  the  spotless  purity  and  nobleness  of  what 
He  offered,  in  the  infinite  acceptableness  and  victorious 
might  with  which  it  pleaded,  and  yet  pleads,  before 
God.  For  the  continual  offering  of  the  Jewish 
sanctuary  points  to  a  perpetual  function  of  Christ. 
His  perfect  obedience  has  not  merely  prevailed  for 
man's  acceptance  in  the  past ;  it  yet  pleads  with  living 
power  where  the  great  High  Priest  now  presents 
Himself  on  man's  behalf,  and  wheresoever  on  earth 
the  memorial  sacrifice  of  Christendom  is  uplifted  before 
the  Father's  face.  In  that  unceasing  act  of  inter- 
cession the  Israel  of  God  is  ever  presented  before 
the  throne  of  Heaven,  nor  is  it  fanciful  to  suppose 
that  the  meal-offering,  and  especially  the  ordinance 
of  the  shewbread,  was  divinely  intended  to  prefigure 
the  mystery  wherein  the  Christian  Church  shows  the 
Lord's  death  till  hs  come'2'.  The  least  that  can  be 
said  is  that  the  meal-offerings  prepared  the  Jewish 
mind  for  '  the  acceptance  of  that  form  of  sacrifice 
which  was  to  supersede  all  others,  in  which  the 
elements  were  to  be  simply  bread  and  wine 3 ' ;  in 
which  bloody  sacrifice  was  to  be  replaced  by  the 

1  Cp.  Exod.  xxiv.  7. 

z  1  Cor.  xi.  26.  The  shewbread  (D^D  DP!?,  LXX.  aproi  evwnioi  or  aproi 
TJ}?  TTpodevfas)  was  set  forth  as  a  memorial.  Lev.  xxiv.  7  :  (O-OVTM  ol  aproi 
(Is  avd/jLvrjatv  TrpoKeipfvm  ro>  Kvpiv.  Cp.  Luke  xxii.  19.  The  loaves  of  shew- 
bread were  in  fact  a  kind' of  perpetual  sacrifice  (Schultz,  i.  355).  Cp.  Lev. 
xxiv.  8.  Its  typical  character  consists  (i)  in  its  being  a  Minchah  or 
non-bloody  offering,  (2)  in  its  having  a  memorial  significance,  (3)  in  its 
being  wholly  consumed  by  man.  It  thus  combined  the  idea  of  sacrifice 
with  that  of  communion  (Willis,  Worship  of  the  Old  Covenant,  p.  166). 

3  Willis,  p.  163.  The  Fathers  commonly  regard  Mai.  i.  n  as  a  prophecy 
of  the  Eucharist. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  255 

oblation  of  incense  and  by  the  pure  offering  (MinchaK) 
mentioned  by  Malachi. 

2.  In  the  next  place,  Jesus  Christ  as  the  representa- 
tive of  humanity  accepts  death,  in  token  of  His  sub- 
mission to  the  penalties  of  human  sin.  It  is  noticeable 
that  the  burnt-offering  was  in  idea  independent  of 
the  thought  of  sin.  Its  atoning  virtue  was  incidental. 
Its  essential  significance  was  that  of  self-dedication  ; 
it  implied  the  satisfaction  not  of  offended  justice,  but 
of  a  holy  requirement l.  The  sin-offering,  on  the 
contrary,  was  piacular ;  it  implied  the  development 
of  a  consciousness  of  guilt ;  it  witnessed  to  the  reality 
of  retribution  and  the  need  of  satisfaction ;  to  the 
impossibility  of  remission  without  shedding  of  blood*. 
The  antitype  then  of  the  sin-offering  is  the  atoning 
death  of  Jesus  Christ  who  makes  propitiation  for  sin 
by  His  own  blood.  Moreover,  the  death  of  Christ 
may  be  regarded  as  a  trespass-offering 3,  inasmuch  as 
the  second  Adam  offers  satisfaction  and  makes  restitu- 
tion for  the  wrong  done  to  the  majesty  of  God  by  the 
first  Adam. 

Here  let  us  pause  to  consider  the  meaning  of  the 
use  of  blood  in  connexion  with  the  ancient  sin-offering. 
There  was,  as  we  have  seen,  but  very  little  significance 
attached  to  the  victim's  death\  slaughter  was  simply 
the  means  employed  for  obtaining  the  blood,  which 
was  sacred  as  the  seat  of  life4.  And  it  is  important 
to  observe  that  in  the  transaction  which  followed  the 
slaughter — in  the  presentation,  and  sprinkling  of 
the  blood — the  dominant  idea  was  rather  that  of  the 
surrender  of  life  than  that  of  the  acceptance  of  death. 
The  blood  was  in  fact  regarded  as  still  living ;  it  was 
only  liberated  for  higher  purposes  by  the  act  of 
slaughter ;  it  was  conceived  as  still  living  and  in  a  real 


1  Cp.  Lev.  i.  4.  and  see  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  pp. 
329>  33o;  Jukes,  'Law  of  the  Offerings,  p.  52. 
*  Heb.  ix.  22. 
8  Obs.  pK>K  in  Isa.  liii.  10. 
4  Gen.  ix.  4  ;  Lev.  xvii.  n.     Cp.  Schultz,  i.  392. 


256  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

sense  active  beyond  death  1.  Tradition  tells  us  that 
it  was  usually  caught  by  the  officiating  priest,  as  it 
flowed  from  the  slain  animal,  in  a  pointed  vessel  which 
could  not  be  set  down,  and  was  constantly  stirred  to 
prevent  coagulation.  Quick,  warm,  alive  it  wras 
carried  to  the  appointed  place  and  there  solemnly 
sprinkled.  The  blood  thus  offered  was  in  fact  an 
emblem  of  life  yielded  up  in  perfect  self-surrender, 
and  dedicated  to  the  service  of  the  living  God.  The 
act  of  sprinkling  on  the  horns  of  the  altar  or  on  the 
mercy-seat  typified  the  reception  of  human  life  into 
the  sphere  of  divine  fellowship.  The  slaughter  then 
of  the  victim  was  *  only  an  initial  stage  in  a  great 
sacrificial  transaction ;  in  conformity  with  the  legal 
type,  Christ,  living  through  and  beyond  death,  must 
needs  pass  within  the  veil  as  our  perfected  High 
Priest.  The  atoning  work  was  not  complete  until, 
by  His  ascension,  Christ  had  passed  into  the  Holy  of 
Holies,  which  is  heaven  itself,  there  to  be  manifested 
in  the  presence  of  God  for  us  as  our  representa- 
tive.' There  'the  ascended  Lord,  taking  with  Him 
those  for  whom  He  died,  presents  them  in  Himself 
to  His  eternal  Father2.'  With  His  own  blood  shed 
on  man's  behalf  He  passes  into  heaven  itself*,  and  there 
accomplishes  what  was  dimly  prefigured  in  the  solemn 
sprinkling  of  the  sacrificial  blood  by  the  levitical  priest. 
He  brings  the  life  of  man  into  perfect  fellowship  with 
deity. 

It  will  have  appeared  from  what  has  been  said  that 
the  complete  type  of  the  atoning  work  of  Christ  is  to 
be  found  only  in  the  ceremonial  of  the  Day  of  Atone- 
ment which  was  regarded  as  completing  the  whole  cycle 
of  piacular  sacrifices  4.  In  a  sense  it  '  summed  up  and 

1  Cp.  Westcott,  Epp.  of  S.John,  p.  35  ;  Ep.  to  the  Hebrews,  p.  293. 

2  The  Doctrine  of  the  Incarnation,  vol.  ii.  p.  313. 
8  Heb.  ix.  24. 

*  Cp.  Lev.  xvi.  21.  The  Day  of  Atonement  was  held  to  cleanse  the 
people  from  all  their  sins,  i.e.  'according  to  the  Mishnic  interpretation, to 
purge  away  the  guilt  of  all  sins,  committed  during  the  year,  that  had  not 
been  already  expiated  '  (Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  388). 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  257 

interpreted  the  whole  conception  of  sacrifices'  in  so 
far  as  they  were  divinely  intended  '  to  gain  for  man 
access  to  God  V  The  great  feature  of  the  day  was 
the  entry  of  the  High  Priest  into  the  Holy  of  Holies, 
a  representative  act  in  which  the  whole  nation  was 
year  by  year  admitted  to  the  presence  of  Jehovah, 
but  which  was  only  possible  in  virtue  of  blood,  that  is 
of  life,  shed,  and  solemnly  offered2.  In  this  trans- 
action the  life  of  the  people  was  first  symbolically 
yielded  up  as  a  token  of  submission  to  the  penalty  of 
sin,  and  afterwards  brought  within  the  veil  into  the 
immediate  presence  of  God.  Israel  was  first  ransomed, 
then  dedicated ;  first  pardoned,  then  consecrated 3. 
The  covenant  status  of  the  people  was  renewed ; 
Israel  was  restored,  by  the  removal  of  sin,  to  the  posi- 
tion of  a  community  in  which  Jehovah  could  continue 
to  dwell 4. 

But  the  blood  of  the  sin-offering  sacrificed  on  the 
Day  of  Atonement  was  not  only  offered  on  behalf  of 
the  people ;  it  was  applied.  By  its  presentation  at 
the  mercy-seat  it  was  endued  with  cleansing  and 
sanctifying  efficacy.  Sprinkled  on  the  floor  of  the 
sanctuary,  and  on  all  the  sacred  furniture,  it  purged 
them  from  the  defilement  they  had  contracted  from 
the  handling  of  sinful  men  ;  it  reconsecrated  them  to 
holy  functions.  And  the  blood  of  sprinkling*  may  be 
regarded  as  a  sample  of  all  the  Jewish  rites  of  purifi- 
cation 6,  which  could  purge  at  least  outwardly  those 
who  had  involved  themselves  in  ceremonial  unclean- 
ness  and  needed  restoration  to  covenant  privileges. 
The  writer  to  the  Hebrews,  however,  draws  attention  to 
the  contrast  between  these  merely  external  ordinances 
and  the  inward  effectual  operation  of  Christ's  blood. 

1  Westcott,  Ep.  to  the  Hebrews,  p.  279,     Cp.  Schultz,  ii.  402  foil. 

2  Heb.  ix.  7 ;  cp.  Lev.  xvi.  14,  15. 

*  See  Milligan,  The  Resurrection  of  our  Lord,  pp.  133  foil. 

4  Cp.  Lev.  xvi.  16.  5  Heb.  xii.  24. 

6  In  Heb.  ix.  13  the  blood  of  Christ  is  placed  in  line  with  (i)  the  blood 
of  bulls  and  goats,  i.  e.  the  rites  of  the  Day  of  Atonement,  (ii)  the  water  of 
sprinkling  mixed  with  ashes  of  the  red  heifer  (Num.  xix). 

S 


258  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

*  The  Mosaic  rites  availed  to  renew  the  covenant 
fellowship  between  God  and  His  people,  which  might 
have  been  interrupted  by  sin ;  they  removed  the 
accumulated  defilement  arising  from  daily  action  and 
intercourse  or  from  contact  with  death.  But  their 
effect  was  outward  and  transitory.  They  hallowed,  but 
could  not  purge  the  worshipper.  Their  effect  might 
be  described  in  the  word  aytao-^oy,  which  implies 
merely  the  reconsecration  of  what  had  been  dese- 
crated or  profaned.  But  the  effect  of  Christ's  blood 
is  a  true  and  inward  purgation  of  the  character  and 
conscience  from  moral  and  spiritual  defilement;  His 
blood  is  a  real  means  of  cleansing  (/ca0apicr//6?),  of 
actual  deliverance  from  the  stain  of  guilt  and  from  the 
power  of  sin.  .  .  .  The  communication  of  the  blood  of 
Christ,  whether  in  the  gift  of  absolution  or  in  the 
grace  of  Holy  Communion,  is  in  fact  the  communi- 
cation of  a  divine  life,  annihilating  the  stains  and 
reinforcing  the  frailty  of  nature  V 

3.  This  brings  us  to  the  third  division  of  sacrifice 
and  its  fulfilment  in  Christ.  He  is  the  slain  victim  of 
the  peace-offerings,  His  sacrifice  being  the  groundwork 
of  a  communion  feast 2.  A  meal  is  the  ordinary 
symbol,  according  to  -oriental  conceptions,  of  fellow- 
ship and  peace.  And  the  eucharistic  feast  of  the 
Christian  Church  is  the  highest  realization,  under 
the  conditions  of  our  mortality,  of  the  blessedness  for 
which  man  was  created.  It  typifies  the  peace  which 
follows  upon  penitent  self-surrender  to  the  will  of  God. 
It  is  a  means  whereby  he  becomes  a  partaker  of  the 
divine  nature,  and  a  recipient  of  the  divine  life 3. 
In  a  real  sense  it  anticipates  the  consummation  to- 
wards which  the  kingdom  of  God  ever  tends,  the 
perfect  indwelling  of  the  Creator  in  His  creatures. 
On  this  point  there  is  no  need  to  dwell  at  length.  It 
is  enough  to  draw  attention  to  the  impressiveness  of 
the  circumstance  that  the  earliest  and  rudest  forms 

1  The  Doctrine  of  the  Incarnation,  vol.  ii.  pp.  325,  326. 

2  Heb.  xiii.  10.  8  2  Pet.  i.  4 ;  John  vi.  53-57. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  259 

of  sacrifice  foreshadowed  a  religious  idea  than  which 
none  is  more  distinctive  of  Christianity.  We  are  told 
on  high  authority  that  the  ancient  sacrificial  meal  had 
both  a  social  and  a  religious  significance.  The  primi- 
tive notion  was  that  those  who  ate  and  drank  together 
were  '  by  this  very  act  tied  to  one  another  by  a  bond 
of  friendship  and  mutual  obligation  '  ;  such  an  act  of 
worship  cemented  *  the  bond  between  man  and  his 
god,  and  also  the  bond  between  him  and  his  brethren 
in  the  common  faith  V  Further,  it  was  a  widespread 
belief  in  Semitic  antiquity  that  '  by  eating  the  flesh  or 
drinking  the  blood  of  another  living  being  a  man 
absorbs  its  nature  or  life  into  his  own  V  How  re- 
markable it  is  that  the  great  Christian  sacrament 
should  embody  and  consecrate  the  element  of  truth 
which,  often  in  the  crudest  and  most  fantastic  forms, 
underlay  these  ancient  ideas  !  It  is  true  not  only  in 
the  critical  moments  of  religious  history,  but  also  in  the 
development  of  religious  ordinances,  that  there  are  last 
which  shall  be  first,  and  there  are  first  which  shall  be 
last*. 

As  we  look  back  over  the  different  ordinances  of 
the  levitical  legislation  in  the  light  of  their  Messianic 
antitypes  we  shall  recognize  the  truth  of  St.  Paul's 
bold  assertion  that  the  law  is  spiritual*.  Under  those 
carnal  ordinances  imposed  as  a  burden  ^^,ntil  the  time  of 
reformation  5  lay  concealed  a  spiritual  fact  which  was 
their  basis  and  presupposition — the  fact  of  Jehovah's 
electing  love.  It  is  true  that,  speaking  generally, 
'  Israel  did  not  rise  to  the  level  of  its  institutions,  but 
rather  brought  them  down  to  its  ever-lowering  stand- 
point G '  ;  we  must  judge,  however,  of  the  tendency  of 
the  Law,  not  by  its  acknowledged  failures,  but  by  its 
spiritual  triumphs.  And  doubtless  in  those  books  of 
the  Old  Testament  which  represent  the  devotion  and 

1  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  247. 

*  Ibid.  p.  295.  3  Luke  xiii.  30. 

4  Rom.  vii.  14.     Cp.  Orig.  de  Princ.  iv.  6  TO  Tryev/nar/Koi'  TOV  M 
vop-nv  e'Xa/y^ej/  fm8r]p.fja-aVTOS  'Irjo-ov. 

8  Heb.  ix.  10.  6  Edersheim,  Warburton  Lectures,  p.  245. 

S  2 


26o  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

faith  of  the  spiritual  Israel,  and  the  fruit  of  the 
discipline  through  which  it  had  passed,  we  learn  what 
was  the  divinely  intended  outcome  of  the  Law  and  its 
appointed  worship.  Such  books  as  Deuteronomy  and 
the  Psalter  reflect  the  spirit  which  found  satisfaction 
or  edification  in  the  services  of  the  sanctuary  ;  they 
illustrate  the  religious  affections  which  the  Law 
awakened  in  chosen  souls  ;  their  thirst  for  righteous- 
ness, their  holy  fear,  their  longing  for  purity  of  heart, 
their  passionate  desire  for  union  with  God.  It  was 
this  life  of  the  affections  which  the  sacrifices  were 
peculiarly  fitted  to  educate.  The  ethical  foundations 
of  covenant  fellowship  with  God  had  been  firmly  laid 
by  the  teaching  of  Moses  and  of  the  prophets.  The 
Decalogue  and  the  early  legislation,  social  and  moral, 
were  calculated  to  act  as  a  restraint  upon  conduct 
and  a  discipline  of  character.  But  the  ordinances  of 
worship  in  their  developed  form  were  at  once  a  school 
for  the  heart  and  a  channel  of  spiritual  instruction. 
In  the  intention  of  its  priestly  compilers  no  doubt 
the  ceremonial  Law  was  designed  to  emphasize  and 
elaborate  the  external  holiness  of  Israel.  But  the 
thoughts  of  God  are  not  man's  thoughts,  neither  are 
our  ways  His  ways l ;  and  the  actual  effect  of  the 
cultus,  at  least  in  devout  hearts,  was  to  deepen  the 
inwardness  of  their  religious  life,  to  stir  emotions 
which  only  the  divine  heart  could  fathom,  and  to 
awaken  unutterable  yearnings  which  the  love  of  God, 
manifested  in  His  Son,  alone  could  satisfy. 

1  Isa. Iv.  8. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  261 


NOTE  A. 
The  Symbolic  Significance  of  the  Tabernacle. 

THE  following  note,  based  largely  upon  a  chapter  in  The 
Worship  of  the  Old  Covenant  (Oxford,  1880),  by  the  Rev. 
E.  F.  Willis,  is  inserted  as  an  illustration  of  legitimate  typical 
interpretation. 

The  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  insists  em- 
phatically on  the  fact  that  all  the  arrangements  of  the 
earthly  sanctuary  were,  according  to  the  divine  injunction, 
modelled  after  the  pattern  displayed  to  Moses  on  the  mount 1. 
It  is  evident  that  in  his  view  the  description  of  the  sanctuary 
was  an  embodiment  of  divine  thoughts,  of  mysteries  which 
it  was  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  partially  unveil. 
Accordingly,  to  quote  Bishop  Westcott2,  'there  can  be  no 
reasonable  doubt  as  to  the  symbolism  of  the  tabernacle.  It 
conveyed  of  necessity  deep  religious  thoughts  to  those  who 
reverently  worshipped  in  it.  It  was,  however,  a  natural  and 
indeed  a  justifiable  belief  that  the  spiritual  teaching  of  the  fabric 
was  not  confined  to  its  ruling  features,  but  extended  also  to 
every  detail.  There  are  correspondences  between  all  the 
works  of  God  which  deeper  knowledge  and  reflection  make 
clear.  The  significance  attached  to  the  numbers  which 
continually  recur  in  all  the  relations  of  the  several  parts 
cannot  be  questioned.'  But  we  have  also  to  remember  that 
the  sanctuary  '  was  not  simply  an  epitome  of  that  which  is 
presented  on  a  larger  scale  in  the  world  of  finite  being ;  the 
archetype  to  which  it  answered  belonged  to  another  order  ;  the 
lessons  which  it  conveyed  were  given  in  the  fullness  of  time  in 
a  form  which  is  final  for  man,'  namely  in  the  humanity  of 
Jesus  Christ3. 

In   its   general    structure   it    is   not    difficult   to   see   that 

'  the   tent   of  meeting '    is  a  type   of   Him    who   was   made 

flesh  and  tabernacled  among  us 4 ;  and  that  each  several  part 

or  chamber  is  emblematic  of  a    dispensation  in  redemptive 


1  Heb.  viii.  5.     Cp.  Exod.  xxv.  8,  9  ;  Acts  vii.  44. 

2  Ep.  to  the  Hebrews,  p.  237. 

3  Ibid.  p.  240.  4  John  i.  14. 


262  THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  [LECT. 

history.  The  outer  court  with  its  bleeding  sacrifices  and  its 
laver  of  purification  symbolizes  the  preparatory  stage  of 
Mosaism  with  its  sacrificial  system  and  comprehensive 
ceremonialism.  The  number  five,  which  is  the  prevailing 
figure  in  the  measurements  of  the  court,  being  half  of  ten,  the 
number  of  perfection,  serves  to  convey  the  moral  idea  of  in- 
completeness, while  the  inferior  metals  employed  in  the 
construction  of  the  altar  and  the  laver  symbolize  what  is 
imperfect  and  rudimentary1.  The  Holy  Place  entered  by  the 
veil  which  separated  it  from  the  court  contained  three  symbolic 
objects — the  golden  altar  of  incense,  the  table  on  which  stood 
the  pure  vegetable  oblation  of  the  shewbread,  and  the  seven- 
branched  candlestick  with  its  lamps.  Here  faith  may  find 
a  type  or  representation  of  the  Christian  Church  with  its 
Eucharist,  its  sevenfold  gift  of  the  Spirit,  its  perpetual  inter- 
cession in  union  with  that  of  its  ascended  High  Priest.  But 
the  Holy  PJace  held  a  position  which  in  itself  was  para- 
bolic 2,  and  not  merely  prophetic.  It  witnessed  indeed  to 
man's  true  destiny  as  called  to  fellowship  with  God  ;  but 
the  fact  that  he  might  not  penetrate  to  the  innermost  shrine 
constantly  reminded  the  Jewish  worshipper  that  he  could  not 
yet  enjoy  the  fullness  of  divine  communion  3.  In  the  Holy 
Place  Jehovah  was  manifested  only  in  condescending  grace  ; 
in  His  divine  glory  and  majesty  in  the  Holy  of  Holies  alone. 
Thus  the  realities  (ama  ra  TT/jay/mara)  of  heaven  itself  were 
typified  by  the  most  Holy  Place.  Its  very  form  was  an 
emblem  of  God's  dwelling-place,  for  the  length  and  the  breadth 
and  the  height  of  it  were  equal*'.  It  formed  a  perfect  cube  of 
ten  cubits,  as  if  to  suggest  the  ideal  ultimate  perfection  which 
the  kingdom  of  God  was  destined  to  attain.  It  was  lighted 
only  by  the  Shekinah,  the  divine  glory  dwelling  in  visible 
manifestation  between  the  golden  cherubim,  upon  the  mercy- 
seat  or  covering  of  the  ark.  The  mercy-seat  was  the 
sacred  place  of  reconciliation  or  atonement ;  the  ark  was 
the  receptacle  of  Israel's  most  sacred  possession,  namely  the 
tables  of  the  testimony  which  formed  the  charter  of  the 
divine  covenant.  Upon  the  mercy-seat  stood  cherubim— 
probably  standing  figures  in  human  or  possibly  composite 
form,  representing  the  most  exalted  of  created  beings,  nearest 
to  the  throne  of  deity  and  highest  in  service,  yet  reverently 
stooping  as  if  to  gaze  into  the  mysteries  of  God.  The  thought 

1  See  generally  Willis,  The  Worship  of  the  Old  Covenant,  ch.  v  ;  Oehler, 
Theol.  of  the  O.  T.  §§  115-119. 

2  Cp.  Heb.  ix.  9.  3  Cp.  Westcott,  Ep.  to  the  Hebrews,  p.  250. 
*  Cp.  Rev.  xxi.  16. 


v]  AND  ITS   WORSHIP  263 

is  thus  visibly  expressed  that  the  self-revelation  of  God  is  at 
the  same  time  a  self-concealment.  The  cherubim,  according 
to  the  usual  imagery  of  the  Old  Testament,  at  once  proclaim 
the  presence  of  God  and  veil  His  essential  glory  l. 

The  materials  of  the  tabernacle,  gold,  silver  and  brass,  and  the 
colours  of  the  hangings,  blue,  scarlet  and  purple,  are  employed 
in  such  a  way  as  to  suggest  the  ideas  of  gradation,  continuity 
and  splendour.  The  furniture  of  the  outer  court  is  mostly 
brass  ;  in  the  Holy  Place  no  brass  is  used  except  in  the 
sockets  of  the  pillars  at  the  entrance.  Silver,  the  emblem  of 
moral  purity,  is  used  in  the  foundations  of  the  Holy  Place,  and 
it  is  noticeable  that  the  capitals  of  the  pillars  in  the  outer 
court  are  of  the  same  material,  as  if  to  show  that  '  the  highest 
glory  of  what  the  court  foreshadowed  was  inferior  to  the 
lowest  of  that  which  was  typified  by  the  Holy  Place  V  The 
materials  employed  in  the  Holy  Place  and  Holy  of  Holies  are 
acacia  wood  and  gold  with  which  it  was  overlaid,  but  the 
mercy-seat  and  the  cherubim  are  wrought  of  solid  gold.  The 
colours  also  are  symbolic  :  white  is  the  emblem  of  holiness, 
of  soiled  robes  cleansed  from  stain.  Blue,  the  colour  of  the 
sapphire  stone3,  suggested  the  heavenliness  of  the  divine 
calling.  Scarlet,  the  colour  of  blood,  signifies  created  life. 
Purple,  the  intermingling  of  scarlet  and  blue,  is  a  symbol  of  the 
union  of  two  natures,  divine  and  human.  All  these  different 
materials  and  colours  suggest  different  degrees  of  glory  and 
dignity,  beauty  and  excellency  :  all  are  emblematic  of  the 
holiness,  purity  and  majesty  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  They 
suggest  thoughts  of  that  glorious  body  of  which  the  Apostle 
speaks  4,  of  that  glorious  church  5  which  Christ  purposes  to 
present  to  Himself. 

Once  more,  the  measurements  of  the  different  parts  of 
the  tabernacle  are  not  without  significance.  For  we  cannot 
but  be  struck  by  the  stress  laid  upon  number  and  measure 
in  the  Bible6.  In  the  account  of  the  tabernacle  and  of 
the  temple7,  and  in  Ezekiel's  prophetic  description  of 


Riehm,  ^477.  Theologie,  p.  90.  On  the  mercy-seat  (niSDH,  LXX. 
)  see  Willis,  op.  cit.  p.  105  ;  Riehm,  loc.  cif.  Cp.  Gifford  on 
Romans,  iii.  25.  On  the  cherubim,  see  Schultz,  O.  T.  Theology,  ii.  229 
foil.  He  says  (p.  236)  :  'The  cherubim  were  not  angels,  but  symbolical 
figures,  combining  the  noblest  qualities  of  the  created  world—  a  man  being 
the  symbol  of  intelligence,  a  lion  of  sovereignty,  an  ox  of  strength,  and  an 
eagle  of  swiftness.'  See  also  Oehler,  §  119. 

2  Willis  (quoting  Rev.  H.  Douglas),  p.  92. 

3  Cp.  Exod.  xxiv.  10.  4  Phil.  iii.  21.  5  Eph.  v.  27. 

6  See  Schultz,  O.  T.  Theology,  vol.  i.  p.  352  note  ;  cp.  Willis,  pp.  76  foil. 

7  I  Kings  vi  and  vii. 


264      THE  ANCIENT  COVENANT  AND  ITS  WORSHIP 

an  ideal  sanctuary  and  city,  the  dimensions  of  things  are 
prominently  and  minutely  recorded  ;  and  they  even  find 
a  place  in  St.  John's  picture  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem.  We 
have  noticed  already  that  while  the  tabernacle  is  of  oblong 
shape,  the  Holy  of  Holies  forms  a  perfect  cube ;  a  contrast 
which  suggests  the  incompleteness  of  the  visible  kingdom  of 
God  as  contrasted  with  the  ideal  perfection  towards  which  it 
tends.  As  to  the  numbers,  those  which  occur  most  frequently, 
either  singly  or  in  combination,  are  three,  four,  five,  seven,  ten, 
and  twelve.  Three  is  generally  recognized  as  an  emblem  of  what 
is  divine.  It  symbolizes  divine  appointment,  and  corresponds 
to  the  revelation  of  the  divine  nature  and  attributes.  Accord- 
ingly, in  the  tabernacle  we  find  three  main  divisions,  three 
veils,  three  metals  used,  and  three  colours.  Four  suggests  the 
notion  of  created  being,  and.  as  we  should  expect,  the  number  is 
very  prominent  in  the  structure  of  the  visible  sanctuary  (ayiov 
Koa-fjLLKov) T,  being  impressed  upon  the  general  design  of  the 
whole  building  and  upon  its  contents.  Seven  is  the  union  of 
four  and  three  ;  it  symbolizes  a  covenant  relationship  — the 
union  or  reconciliation  of  man  with  God.  It  is  not  so  dis- 
tinctly characteristic  of  the  tabernacle  itself  as  of  the  Jewish 
dispensation  and  ceremonial  regarded  in  its  entirety2.  It 
corresponds  to  the  name  Emmanuel,  God  with  us.  The 
number  ten  denotes  perfection  or  completeness.  Its  employ- 
ment in  the  measurements  of  the  tabernacle  suggests  the 
idea  that,  though  temporal  in  form  and  use,  the  structure  was 
yet  perfect  of  its  kind.  Five,  the  half  of  ten,  evidently  conveys 
the  idea  of  incompleteness.  Finally,  the  number  twelve,  four 
multiplied  by  three,  corresponds  to  a  more  intimate  relation- 
ship between  the  Creator  and  the  creature  than  is  expressed 
in  the  number  seven.  It  symbolizes  the  indwelling  of  deity 
in  the  creature,  and  accordingly  we  find  that  the  number  is 
characteristic  of  the  Church  of  God  in  all  the  successive  stages 
of  its  history  :  there  are  twelve  patriarchs,  twelve  tribes,  twelve 
stones  in  the  breastplate  of  the  High  Priest,  twelve  Apostles  of 
the  Lamb.  The  number  is  specially  prominent  in  St.  John's 
vision  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem.  It  corresponds  to  the  con- 
summation of  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation — a  state  or 
sphere  in  which  God  is  not  merely  ivitk  men,  but  in  them  ; 
not  merely  visits  and  redeems  His  people,  but  possesses  them 
with  His  indwelling  presence. 

\  Heb.  ix.  i. 

-  In  the  tabernacle  we  have  the  seven-branched  candlestick;   in  the 
levitical  system  the  number  frequently  occurs.     Cp.  Willis,  p.  79. 


LECTURE   VI 


And  it  shall  be  said  in  that  day,  Lo,  this  is  our  God;  we  have  waited 
for  him,  and  He  will  save  us :  this  is  the  Lord;  we  have  waited  for 
him,  we  will  be  glad  and  rejoice  in  His  salvation. — Isa.  xxv.  9. 

THE  general  results  of  Old  Testament  criticism 
might  be  summed  up  in  a  single  sentence  in  which  at 
first  sight  two  opposite  views  of  the  sacred  history 
appear  to  be  contrasted  :  instead  of  speaking  of '  the 
Law  and  the  Prophets  '  we  might  equally  speak  of  '  the 
Prophets  and  the  Law.'  Now  it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind 
that  both  expressions  are  found  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, either  totidem  verbis  or  in  some  equivalent 
form J  ;  but  there  can  be  no  question  that  the  usual 
order  in  our  blessed  Lord's  repeated  references  to  the 
subject  is  '  the  Law  and  the  Prophets/  and  we  might 
naturally  infer  from  this  language  the  priority  in  time 
of  the  Law.  A  few  moments'  attention,  however,  will 
show  in  what  sense  the  phrase  '  the  Law  and  the  Pro- 
phets,' though  apparently  unhistorical,  is  both  perfectly 
natural  and  strictly  accurate.  The  history  of  the  growth 
of  the  Hebrew  Canon  supplies  the  real  clue  to  our 
Lord's  ordinary  mode  of  speech.  The  formation  of  the 
Canon  began  with  the  codification,  promulgation,  and 
eventual  canonization  of  the  book  of  the  Law.  The 
foundation-stone  of  the  work  was  laid  in  Josiah's  reign, 
which  witnessed  '  the  dawn  of  that  love  and  reverence 
for  Scripture  with  which  the  true  Israelite,  whether 
Jew  or  Christian,  was  destined  ever  afterwards  to  be 
identified  V  The  publication  of  the  book  of  the  Law  ' 

1  Cp.  Acts  xxvi.  22,  'the  Prophets  and  Moses.' 

2  Ryle,  Canon  of  the  O.  T.  p.  61. 


266        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

(the  Deuteronomic  code)  was  the  primary  stage  in 
a  movement  which  was  carried  on  during  the  exile 
mainly,  it  would  seem,  under  the  influence  of  Ezekiel. 
The  so-called  priestly  code  seems  to  have  been  slowly 
compiled  and  elaborated  before  the  return  from 
Babylon,  but  apparently  the  work  was  not  finally 
completed  before  the  mission  of  Ezra  to  Jerusalem  ;  it 
is  with  Ezra's  name  that  we  ought  to  connect  the 
promulgation  of  the  completed  book  of  the  Law, 
described  in  the  eighth  chapter  of  the  book  of 
Nehemiah.  All  the  evidence  points  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  book  publicly  read  by  Ezra  on  the  occasion 
of  Nehemiah's  arrival  at  Jerusalem  (444  B.C.)  was  none 
other  than  the  Pentateuch  substantially  in  its  present 
form.  What  had  hitherto  been  a  priests'  book  became 
a  people's  book,  and  thus  the  Law  became  the  nucleus 
of  the  Old  Testament  scriptures  1. 

The  '  Prophets '  do  not  as  yet  seem  to  have  been 
collected  in  any  authoritative  or  canonical  form. 
Writings  of  various  prophets  were  already  current, 
both  historical  documents  which  were  afterwards 
classed  as  *  earlier '  or  *  former  Prophets,'  and  the 
books  ascribed  to  most  of  the  '  latter '  Prophets  them- 
selves. But  these  did  not  as  yet  form  a  recognized 
part  of  Scripture.  It  was  only  on  the  analogy  of  the 
Law,  and  at  a  considerably  later  period,  that  '  the 
Prophets  '  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  canonical  book, 
and  to  be  ranked  as  Holy  Scripture  by  the  side  of  the 
Law 2.  Now  it  is  most  probable  that  our  Lord 
in  speaking  of  '  the  Law  and  the  Prophets '  is  simply 
referring  to  those  two  great  divisions  of  Hebrew 
Scripture  which  were  respectively  known  by  these 
titles.  He  refers  to  'the  Law'  as  the  oldest  and  most 
venerable  portion  of  the  Hebrew  Bible,  and  to  '  the 

1  Ryle,  op.  dt.  ch.  iv.      It  was  the  Pentateuch  which  the  Samaritan 
synagogue  took  over  from  the  Jews  in  about  the  year  430  B.C. 

2  Perhaps  not  before  300  B.C.     Prof.  Ryle  says, '  Before  the  beginning  of 
the  second  century  B.  c.,  the  second  stage  in  the  formation  of  the  Canon 
had  ended ;    and  the  limits  of  "  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  "  had  been 
determined'  (p.  109). 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE         267 

Prophets '  as  a  collection  of  writings  formed  at  a  later 
date,  and  probably  not  regarded  by  the  ordinary  Jew 
as  standing  entirely  on  the  same  level  of  dignity  and 
authority  as  the  Law.  According  to  His  wont,  our 
Saviour  is  conversing  with  the  Jews  on  the  basis  of 
their  own  traditions  and  preconceptions.  He  is 
addressing  men  whose  religion  was  predominantly 
legalistic ;  and  it  is  noticeable  that  two  of  the  passages 
where  the  phrase  '  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  '  is  found 
occur  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  in  which  Christ  is 
as  it  were  proclaiming  the  new  law  of  the  Messianic 
kingdom  1.  He  is  speaking  to  those  whose  religion, 
whether  for  better  or  for  worse,  had  tended  to  become 
the  religion  of  a  book  or  even  a  code,  and  there  can  be 
no  question  that  He  speaks  not  from  the  critical  stand- 
point, but  from  the  standpoint  of  one  who  is  concerned 
with  the  practical  work  of  religious  instruction,  and 
who  is  dealing  with  men  to  whom  the  Law  was  the 
most  sacred  of  possessions  and  the  most  authori- 
tative of  institutions. 

Speaking  broadly,  the  phrase  the  '  Law  and  the 
Prophets'  represents  two  spiritual  tendencies,  which 
were  not  absolutely  opposed,  or  even  two  distinct 
periods  in  the  history  of  Israel's  religion,  which  were 
not  as  a  matter  of  fact  strictly  successive  in  point 
of  time.  So  far  as  we  can  judge,  Prophecy  and  Law 
were  co-existent  and  co-operative  elements  in  Israel's 
spiritual  development  from  the  first :  but  it  is  evident 
on  a  careful  study  of  the  Old  Testament  history,  and 
of  the  course  of  events  which  followed  the  return  from 
Babylon,  that  two  main  epochs  are  practically  distin- 
guishable :  the  age  of  the  Prophets,  which  lasted  for 
some  two  centuries  before  the  exile,  and  the  age  in 
which  the  Law  became  the  principal  factor  in  Israel's 
spiritual  progress.  But,  as  a  recent  writer  observes, 
4  No  one  maintains  that  the  Law  first  appeared,  or  first 
began  to  exercise  its  influence,  when  the  prophetic 
development  had  already  come  to  a  close.  The 

1  Matt.  v.  17;  vii.  12. 


268        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

existence  of  the  book  of  Deuteronomy  in  the  seventh, 
and  of  the  "Book  of  the  Covenant"  already  apparently 
in  the  ninth  century,  would  instantly  refute  any  such 
assertion.  On  the  other  hand,  no  one  denies  that  Pro- 
phecy exercised  decisive  influence  upon  the  formation 
and  development  of  the  Law.  Even  the  most  convinced 
defender  of  the  traditional  view  will  allow  to  Moses  in 
his  activity  as  lawgiver  prophetic  inspiration,  and  will 
not  deny  him  a  prophetic  character1/  We  have 
already  seen  that  Moses  was  recognized  by  later 
prophets  as  himself  one  of  the  greatest  of  prophets. 
The  book  of  Deuteronomy  indeed  reminds  us  at  its 
close  that  There  arose  not  a  prophet  since  in  Israel 
like  imto  Moses,  whom  the  Lord  knew  face  to  face  ^\  and 
Hosea  expressly  teaches  that  By  a  prophet  the  Lord 
brought  Israel  out  of  Egypt,  and  by  a  prophet  was  he 
preserved 3. 

Thus  the  expression  '  the  Law  and  the  Prophets/  or 
its  converse,  was  not  necessarily  intended  to  emphasize 
the  idea  of  succession  in  time  ;  it  implies  a  refer- 
ence to  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  according  to  their 
constitutive  elements.  In  any  case  it  cannot  be 
meant  to  imply  that  the  wrork  of  the  prophets  was  in 
any  sense  of  secondary  importance  in  the  develop- 
ment of  Israel's  religion.  On  the  contrary,  when  we 
consider  the  entire  tone  and  tendency  of  our  Lord's 
teaching  we  shall  conclude  that  He,  the  Wisdom  of  God, 
sets  His  seal  to  the  work  of  the  ancient  Prophets  when 
He  places  the  moral  requirements  of  God  in  the  very 
forefront  of  the  new  law,  and  assigns  to  the  fulfilment 
of  legal  righteousness  a  subordinate  place  :  Except  your 
righteousness  shall  exceed  the  righteousness  of  the  scribes 
and  Pharisees, ye  shall  in  no  case  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  Go  ye  and  learn  what  that  meaneth,  I  will 
have  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice.  If  ye  had  known  what 
this  meaneth,  I  will  have  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice,  ye 
would  not  have  condemned  the  guiltless.  Woe  unto 

1  Valeton,  VergangHches  und  Ew/ges  iin  A.  T.  p.  22. 

*  Deut.  xxxiv.  10.  3  Hos.  xii.  13. 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND    THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE         269 

you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites !  for  ye  pay 
tithe  of  mint  and  anise  and  cummin^  and  have  omitted 
the  weightier  matters  of  the  law,  judgment,  mercy,  and 
faith  :  these  ought  ye  to  have  done,  and  not  to  leave  the 
other  undone^.  Nay,  does  not  this  last  passage  remind 
us  that  He  whose  Spirit  inspired  the  sacred  writers 
Himself  recognized  the  oneness  of  divine  intention  which 
underlay  the  teachings  of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets 
alike.  In  both  of  them  the  Jews  were  right  in 
supposing  that  they  had  eternal  life  '2 :  for  man's  true 
life  consists  in  the  love  of  God  and  the  imitation  of 
Him.  Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  yon, 
do  ye  even  so  to  them;  for  this  is  the  Law  and  the 
Prophets.  On  two  chief  commandments  hang  all  the 
Law  and  the  Prophets 3. 

It  cannot  be  too  often  repeated  that  prophecy  is 
the  dominant  and  distinctive  element  in  Israel's 
religion.  Without  it  Israel  would  only  have  been  one 
of  the  innumerable  nomad  tribes  of  the  Semitic  race, 
the  very  traces  of  which  have  perished4.  Hebrew 
history  has  been  justly  called  'a  history  of  prophecy,' 
since  it  is  the  history  of  a  relation  between  God  and  an 
elect  people  in  which  prophets  were  the  principal 
mediators.  The  God-ward  aspirations  of  Israel 
attained  in  them  the  highest  and  most  representative 
expression ;  through  them  the  message  of  Jehovah 
was  communicated  to  His  people.  All  the  great 
turning-points  in  the  history  were  connected  with  the 
appearance  of  prophets.  Their  activity  was  the  most 
decisive  factor  in  the  moral  and  social  progress,  as 
well  as  in  the  religious  development  of  the  nation.  In 

1  Matt.  v.  20  ;  ix.  13  ;  xii.  7  ;  xxiii.  23.  2  John  v.  39. 

8  Matt.  vii.  12;  xxii.  40.  Observe  that  Christ's  references  to  'the  Law  and 
the  Prophets  '  seem  to  indicate  that  to  Him  these  were  the  most  important 
parts  of  the  Canon.  The  'Writings  '  formed  a  group,  of  which  the  limits 
were  scarcely  yet  precisely  defined.  The  reference  to  2  Chron.  xxiv.  21 
in  Matt,  xxiii.  35  appears  to  imply  that  the  books  of  Chronicles  closed 
the  Hebrew  Canon  then  as  now.  See  Valeton,  Christus  und  das  A.  T. 
3 1  foil. 

4  Darmesteter,  Les  Prophet es  d*  Israel,  p.  210.  Cp.  Driver,  Sermons 
on  the  O.  T.  p.  101. 


270         PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

a  word,  apart  from  prophecy  the  history  loses  all  its 
significance.  Consequently,  although  it  cannot  be 
said  that  our  present  tendency  lies  in  the  direction 
of  underrating  or  ignoring  the  influence  of  Hebrew 
prpphetism,  our  subject  requires  that  some  attempt 
should  be  made  to  estimate  anew  its  unique  signifi- 
cance. I  run  the  risk  of  touching  on  a  good  deal  that 
is  already  very  familiar  to  my  hearers,  but  the  theme 
is  one  of  special  importance  to  all  who  desire  to  under- 
stand the  ideals  which  make  Christianity  what  it  is — 
the  religion  of  the  better  hope. 


I. 

The  beginnings  of  prophetism  bear  witness  to  the 
close  connexion  that  existed  between  Hebrew  institu- 
tions and  the  phenomena  of  Semitic  religion  in  general. 
Tradition  points  to  the  activity  and  influence  of 
Samuel  as  marking  a  creative  epoch  in  Israel's 
history,  and  it  is  significant  that  his  distinctive  work 
was  the  regulation  and  organization  of  prophetism. 
The  natural  soil  out  of  which  the  prophetic  gift  was 
developed  seems  to  have  been  the  tendency  to 
ecstatic  religious  excitement  which  is  characteristic 
of  the  Semitic  temperament.  Prophetism  was  in 
fact  an  institution  which  Israel  originally  shared  with 
its  heathen  neighbours  l.  The  gods  of  Phoenicia  had 
their  prophets ;  the  prophets  of  Baal  we  know- 
fanatical  devotees  who  with  wild  dancing  and  music 
endeavoured  to  attract  the  attention  or  win  the 
favour  of  their  god,  by  cutting  themselves  with 
lancets  and  knives  till  the  blood  gushed  out  iipon 
them'2'.  In  some  respects  akin  to  these  Canaanitish 
Nebiim  seem  to  have  been  the  bands  of  prophets 

1  The  story  of  Balaam  shows  that  in  a  rude  form  prophetism  existed 
among  the  Semitic  races  before  the  conquest  of  Canaan.  The  Nabhi  of 
that  age  was  little  more  than  a  sorcerer,  whose  incantations  were  supposed 
to  operate  with  infallible  effect.  See  Renan,  Histoire  du  peuple  d*  Israel^ 
bk.  ii.  ch.  i. 

-  l  Kings  xviii.  28. 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE         271 

described  in  the  first  book  of  Samuel  in  connexion 
with  the  early  career  of  Saul  *,  enthusiasts  who  have 
been  compared,  not  perhaps  inaccurately,  to  the 
dervishes  of  the  East 2,  displaying  in  a  kind  of 
ecstatic  behaviour  the  effects  of  special  religious 
exultation.  These  prophets  appear  to  have  lived 
together  in  companies  or  schools ;  they  wore  a  coarse 
garment  of  skin  in  token  of  their  religious  calling  ; 
they  probably  depended  for  support  upon  the  charity 
of  the  faithful,  and  were  objects  of  mingled  contempt 
and  reverence  to  the  multitude.  The  prophet  who 
w?as  commissioned  to  anoint  Jehu  king  was  despised  as 
a  mad  fellow  3,  and  the  point  of  the  inquiry  Is  Saul 
also  among  the  pi  ophets  ?  lies  in  the  popular  astonish- 
ment that  so  distinguished  a  man  should  be  found 
in  such  strange  company.  There  are  incidents  in 
the  career  even  of  Elijah  and  Elisha  which  imply 
a  similar  connexion  between  prophetic  inspiration  and 
physical  excitement 4,  but  apparently  these  phenomenaj 
accompanied  only  the  early  stages  of  a  movement  tcj 
\vhich  we  owe  the  noblest  figures  of  Hebrew  history] 
and  the  most  sublime  literature  ever  produced. 
Nevertheless,  we  can  frankly  recognize  the  rudimen- 
tary character  of  the  early  stage 5 ;  and  when  we 
attempt  to  measure  the  interval  that  parts  the  wild  and 
uncouth  behaviour  of  these  primitive  devotees  from 
the  exalted  and  chastened  majesty  of  men  like  Isaiah, 
we  shall  acknowledge  that  Hebrew  prophetism  supplies 
a  conspicuous  example  of  the  method  of  accommoda- 

1  i  Sam.  x.  5-13  ;  xix.  23,  24. 

2  Cornill,  Der  Israelitische    Prophetismus,    pp.    13-15.      Cp.   Renan, 
Histoire^  &c.,  bk.  ii.  ch.  13,  and  Kittel,  Hist,   of  the  Hebrews,   vol.  ii. 
p.  no. 

3  2  Kings  ix.  ii.  *  See  I  Kings  xviii.  46  ;  2  Kings  iii.  15. 

5  Riehm,  A  TL  Theologie,  p.  203  :  '  Gehoren  im  ATI.  Prophetentum 
die  Zustande  bewusstloser  Ekstase  nur  der  niedrigsten  Stufe  seiner 
Entwickelung  an,  wahrend  in  seiner  Bliitezeit  die  prophetische  Begeister- 
ung  immer  mit  volier  Klarheit  des  Bewusstseins  verbunden  ist.'  Cp. 
Ewald,  The  Prophets  of  the  O.  T.  [Eng.  Tr.J  vol.  i.  pp.  16,  17.  It  is 
noticeable  that  Amos  himself,  one  of  the  most  striking  prophets,  seems 
to  have  been  popularly  regarded  as  one  of  the  class  of  professional 
Nebiim  (Amos  vii.  14),  but  repudiates  the  suggestion. 


272        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

tion  which  marks  the  entire  history  of  Israel — Gocl 
condescending  to  use  a  defective  and  rudimentary 
institution,  a  rude  native  outgrowth  of  the  Semitic 
character,  in  order  to  develope  therefrom  a  glorious 
product  of  grace.  '  We  must  not  be  reluctant,'  says 
Cornill,  '  to  recognize  many  strange  elements  in  the 
religion  of  Israel.  We  do  not  set  them  aside  ;  on  the 
contrary,  we  regard  them  as  evidence  of  the  highest 
vitality,  and  of  a  most  powerful  faculty  of  assimilation. 
The  people  of  Israel  in  its  spiritual  capacity  resembles 
the  fabled  king  Midas,  for  whom  all  that  he  touches 
turns  to  gold1.'  Everything  indeed  which  Israel 
derived  from  its  past  or  present  environment  was 
transmuted  into  something  new  and  unique,  so  that  it 
is  difficult  to  recognize  in  the  final  result  the  lowliness 
of  the  elements  which  contributed  to  it,  but  which  in 
due  time  disappeared. 

Samuel  then  it  was  who  revived  or  re-organized  the 
prophetic  office,  and  we  may  pause  to  consider  the  full 
significance  of  his  work.  What  he  apparently  aimed 
at  was  the  regulation  of  the  turbulent  and  boisterous 
elements  in  the  behaviour  and  character  of  the  Nebiim ,  in 
order  to  enlist  the  movement  in  the  service  of  a  higher 
and  purer  type  of  religion  2.  There  is  no  reason  for 
rejecting  the  supposition  that  the  earliest  outburst  of 
prophetic  enthusiasm  was  connected  with  a  patriotic 
uprising  against  Philistine  oppression, but  Samuel's  main 
object  was  probably  not  political.  He  discerned  that 

1  Der  Isr.  Prophetismus,  p.  15. 

2  Kittel,  Hist,  of  the  Hebrews,  ii.  no.     Observe  the  contrast  which  is 
perhaps  suggested  in  i  Sam.  ix.  9  between  Samuel  himself,  calm  and 
self-contained,  and   the   excitable   and  undisciplined  troops  of  Nebiim. 
He  is   a  'seer'    (Roeh),   they  are   'prophets'    (Nebiim).      Montefiore, 
Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  77,  thinks  that  the  two  names  represent  two  orders, 
the  one  native  Hebrew  (seers),  the  other  Canaanite  (prophets),  and  that 
later  prophecy  is  a  result  of  a  coalition  of  the   two  ;    a    '  grafting   of 
Canaanite  prophecy  upon  the  old  stock  of  Hebrew  seers.'     But  he  admits 
that  there  is  little   to   support   his  conjecture.     The  narrative  contains 
a  note  stating  that  Nabhi  is  a  more  recent  and  Roeh  an  older  name  for 
the  same  thing.     Cornill  points  out  that  the  passage  implies  the  recent 
and  foreign  (i.  e.  Canaanite)  origin  of  the  Prophetism  (Der  Isr.  Prophetis- 
mus,  p.  13). 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE         273 

the  fierce  ardour  for  Jehovah's  cause  and  for  the 
integrity  of  His  land  which  fired  the  Nebiim  might  be 
educated  into  a  powerful  religious  force.  Accordingly, 
he  gathered  them  into  organized  schools  or  guilds  in 
which  the  prophetic  gift  might  be  cherished,  and  the 
life  of  religious  devotion  cultivated.  Possibly  also 
the  art  of  sacred  song  was  studied  in  these  societies, 
and  the  historical  annals  of  the  nation  formed  or 
collected  l.  From  this  time  forward,  at  any  rate,  the 
schools  of  the  prophets  occupied  a  recognized  sphere 
in  the  religious  life  of  the  nation.  We  hear  of  the 
Nebiim  again  in  connexion  with  the  reign  of  Ahab, 
and  it  is  probable  that  their  renewed  activity  was 
occasioned  by  alarm  at  the  king's  syncretistic  propensi- 
ties. It  would  seem  that  by  this  time  the  ecstatic 
and  fanatical  element  had  been  more  or  less  subdued, 
and  that  the  Nebiim  were  on  the  point  of  becoming 
a  regular  order.  But  it  was  not  as  an  order  that  they 
became  influential.  When  they  became  a  professional 
class  they  seem  to  have  given  way  to  professional  fail- 
ings 2.  *  First-rate  importance  cannot  be  claimed  for 
the  Nebiiml  says  Wellhausen  3,  but  occasionally  there 
appeared  among  them  *  individuals  who  rose  above 
their  order  and  even  placed  themselves  in  opposition 
to  it.'  The  first  and  most  eminent  of  these  striking 
personalities  was  Elijah.  *  Elijah,'  says  Kittel 4, 
'  introduced  into  prophecy  that  species  of  categorical 
imperative  which  distinguishes  him  as  well  as  the  later 
prophets ;  that  brazen  inflexibility,  that  diamond- 
like  hardness  of  character,  which  bids  them  hold 
fast  by  their  moral  demand,  even  should  the  nation  be 
dashed  in  pieces  against  it.  For  him  the  demand 
means  to  stand  by  Jehovah  as  against  Baal.'  Hence- 
forth, then,  the  prophets  acted  on  the  nation  by  the 

1  This  is  denied  by  Wellhausen,  Sketch  of  the  History  of  Israel  and 
Judah,  p.  64 ;  but  there  seems  nothing  improbable  in  the  suggestion.     See 

Kuenen,  Religion  of  Israel,  ch.  iii  [Eng.  Tr.,  vol.  i.  p.  210]. 

2  Sanday,  Hampton  Lectures,  p.  134. 

3  Sketch  of  the  History  of  Israel  and  Judah,  p.  64. 

4  Hist,  oj  the  Hebrews,  vol.  ii.  p.  266. 

T 


274        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

sheer  force  of  inspired  personality.  As  individual 
witnesses  for  God,  steeped  in  the  fundamental  ideas  of 
the  religion  of  Jehovah,  they  proclaimed  His  word, 
His  sovereignty,  His  righteousness,  His  election  of 
Israel,  His  abhorrence  of  lip-service,  His  hatred  of 
social  wrongdoing.  For  aught  we  know,  much  may 
have  been  accomplished  in  this  way  by  the  banding 
together  of  the  Nebiim  in  organized  companies ;  but 
experience  shows  that  the  influence  of  even  large  and 
powerful  religious  communities  is  unequal  to  that  of 
a  single  great  religious  leader.  It  was  to  the  influence 
of  personality  that  Israel's  religion  owed  its  persistent 
vigour,  its  perpetual  upward  tendency,  and  the  growing 
purity  and  loftiness  of  its  fundamental  conceptions. 

II. 

In  order,  however,  to  gain  a  comprehensive  idea  of 
the  significance  of  Hebrew  prophecy  for  the  Christian 
Church,  it  is  necessary  to  survey  briefly  the  chief 
aspects  of  the  prophets'  work. 

i.  First,  the  prophets  were  inspired  men,  'men  of 
the  word.'  The  root  from  which  Nabhi  is  derived 
can  be  traced  in  the  ancient  language  of  Assyria  and 
Babylon  as  well  as  in  Arabic.  In  Assyrian  it  has  the 
meaning,  'utter,'  'proclaim/  It  appears  in  such  patro- 
nymics as  Nebu-kadnezar,  and  Nabo-polassar,  and  in 
the  title  of  the  Babylonian  deity  whence  they  are 
derived,  Nebo  or  Nabu,  which  probably  signifies  the 
God  of  wisdom  or  wise  utterance,  corresponding  to  the 
Greek  Hermes.  The  word  Nabhi  would  thus  origin- 
ally mean  *  one  who  utters/  But  in  Arabic  the  root 
has  a  more  specific  connotation :  it  imports  the 
announcement  of  a  message  which  the  speaker  is  com- 
missioned to  deliver.  Nabhi  would  accordingly  seem 
to  bear  the  sense  of*  a  commissioned  speaker/  Aaron, 
for  example,  is  called  the  Nabhi  or  '  prophet '  of  Moses 
as  speaking  in  his  name  and  by  his  commission  \ 

1  Exod.  iv.  14-16. 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE        275 

A  prophet,  then,  is  one  who  speaks  as  the  accredited 
messenger  of  Almighty  God.  This  seems  a  better 
account  of  the  word  than  that  which  some  writers 
prefer,  viz.  that  Nabhi  means  one  in  whom  the  flood  of 
divine  inspiration  '  wells  '  or  *  bubbles  up  l ' ;  one  who 
speaks  as  the  passive  instrument  of  the  divine  Spirit. 
In  fact  the  term  corresponds  rather  to  the  Greek 
7rpo<f)rJTr)$  than  to  pdvTLs :  it  means  a  forth-teller  rather 
than  one  who  foretells ;  one  who  announces  what  has 
been  supernaturally  revealed  to  him  as  an  organ  of 
divine  interposition  in  the  affairs  of  men.  And  if  we 
wish  to  understand  the  essential  characteristics  and 
true  significance  of  Hebrew  prophetism  it  is  impor- 
tant to  rid  ourselves  of  the  associations  which  have 
gathered  round  the  English  word  '  prophet/  implying 
that  the  essential  element  in  the  work  of  the  Hebrew 
prophets  was  prediction.  This,  we  shall  find,  was  far 
from  being  the  case.  The  vital  element  in  prophetism 
was  the  prophet's  own  consciousness  that  he  was  not 
acting  or  speaking  in  his  own  name,  but  as  the  instru- 
ment— sometimes  indeed  the  reluctant  instrument — of 
a  higher  Power. 

In  two  respects  the  prophets  may  be  distinguished 
from  the  ordinary  soothsayers  (pavTcis)  of  heathendom, 
Aryan  or  Semitic  2.  First,  they  were  conscious  and 
intelligent  when  they  uttered  their  oracles.  Hebrew 
prophecy  rapidly  outgrew  the  ethnic  stage  of  mere 
possession,  or  ecstasy.  The  prophet  was  no  '  un- 
intelligent medium '  of  divine  communications ;  he 
spoke  under  a  sense  indeed  of  overmastering  moral 
constraint,  but  all  his  faculties  were  intensified  and  illu- 
minated by  the  power  of  the  divine  Spirit 3.  So  vividly 

1  So  Kuenen,  Religion  of  Israel,  ch.  iii,  note.     Cp.  Oehler,  Theology  of 
the  O.  T.  §  161  ;  but  see  Robertson  Smith,  The  Prophets  of  Israel,  ]ect.  fi. 
note  18;  Cornill,  Der  Isr.  Prophetismus,  pp.  6-u,  and  Schultz,  O.  T. 
Theology,  vol.  i.  pp.  264-265. 

2  The  Pythia  of  Delphi  is  an  instance.     On  the  other  hand,  Homer's 
Calchas,  the  Athenian  Musaeus,  Socrates,  and  Plato  (in  his  prophecy  of 
the  righteous  suffering)  are  instances  of  phenomena  more  nearly  akin  to 
those  of  Hebrew  prophetism  (Riehm,  A  77.  Theologie,  p.  204). 

8  Driver,  Sermons  on  the  O.   T.  p.  135 :    '  The  psychical  conditions 

T  2 


276        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

conscious  are  the  prophets  of  their  mission  that  they 
ordinarily  use  the  first  person  when  they  speak  in  God's 
name,  but  they  never  lose  their  sense  of  the  distinction 
between  their  own  thoughts  or  impulses  and  the  re- 
vealed word  of  Jehovah  \  Secondly,  the  Hebrew 
prophet  stands  alone  in  the  character  of  the  message 
delivered.  What  was  it  that  distinguished  the  true 
prophets  from  the  heathen  soothsayers  or  from  the 
false  prophets  '  who  gave  out  the  dreams  of  their 
own  heart  as  God's  word '  ?  It  was  the  profoundly 
moral  purport  of  their  message  that  made  the  pro- 
phets unique.  Truly  I  am  full  of  power  by  the  spirit 
of  the  Lord,  and  of  judgment,  and  of  might, — so  cries 
Micah,  to  declare  unto  Jacob  his  transgression,  and 
to  Israel  his  sin  2.  Prediction,  indeed,  is  an  element 
of  comparatively  secondary  importance  in  prophecy. 
The  main  work  of  the  prophet  is  to  turn  men  from 
their  sins  and  to  proclaim  the  sovereignty  of  Jehovah. 
Where  prediction  constitutes  the  dominant  element, 
prophecy  loses  its  distinctive  character  and  is  better 
described  as  apocalypse.  The  book  of  Daniel,  for 
instance,  is  an  apocalyptic  book  rather  than  a  prophecy. 
The  predictions  of  the  prophets  are  the  outcome  of  their 
unshaken  belief  in  the  moral  government  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  in  the  impending  fulfilment  of  the  divine 
purposes  ;  they  are  the  result  of  inspired  insight  into 

under  which  God  spoke  in  them,  the  nature  and  operation  of  the  initial 
impulse  which  brought  them  to  the  consciousness  of  Divine  truth,  may 
belong  to  those  secrets  of  Man's  inner  life  which  God  has  reserved  to 
Himself ;  but  by  whatever  means  this  consciousness  was  aroused,  the 
Divine  element  which  it  contained  was  assimilated  by  the  prophet,  and 
thus  appears  blended  with  the  elements  that  were  the  expression  of  his 
own  character  and  genius.'  Cp.  Riehm,  op.  cit.  pp.  212  foil.;  Kittel, 
op.  cit.  p.  317. 

Cp.  Oettli,  op.  cit.  p.  19:  'Nach  ihrem  sonnenklaren  Zeugniss  die 
Quellen  ihrer  Religion,  wie  ihrer  besondern  Erleuchtung,  nicht  in  ihrem 
eignen  Geiste,  sondern  in  einer  wunderbar  ihnen  erschlossenen  tran- 
scendenten  Welt  von  gottlicher  Realitat  lagen.' 

2  Mic.  iii.  8.  Cp.  Just.  M.  Dial.  c.  Tryph.  vii  eyeVoi/ro  rives  .  .  .  piKapioi 
KOL  SiKcuot  Ktti  6fofyi\fls  $eto)  TTvevfjidTi  A  aA/y  (mores'  Kal  ra  fj.eXXoi'Ta  Oecnrio'iivTes 
a  8fj  vvv  yu/cntt.  7rpo0//Ta?  ^6  O.VTOVS  Ka\ovcri.i>.  OVTOI  povoi  TO  aXrjdes  Kal 
Kal  e|et7roz>  disdpaTrois,  fiJ^r'  €v\a£r}devT€S  /Mr/re  8vara>7rr)9evTfs  rira,  /zi) 
aXXa  ^6vn  ruira  elrrovres  a  f]K(>v(rciv  KCU  a  eidov  dytco  TrA^co^e 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE         277 

the  inevitable  tendencies  and  consequences  of  human 
action,  and  of  national  or  personal  wrongdoing  \  Not 
that  the  power  of  prophecy  is  any  mere  apotheosis 
of  human  reason 2  :  it  implies,  however,  not  the 
supersession  or  suspension  of  ordinary  human  facul- 
ties, but  the  elevation  of  them  to  the  highest  point 
of  intensity.  The  prophets  claim  to  utter  a  message 
from  Jehovah,  and  they  know  that  He  who  bids  them 
speak  enables  them  by  His  Spirit,  and  is  with  them 
to  strengthen,  and  if  need  be  to  deliver  them3. 

2.  Such  then  were  the  characteristics  of  prophetic 
inspiration.  It  is  natural  in  the  next  place  to  consider 
the  sphere  in  which  it  was  exercised,  and  the  conditions, 
social  and  moral,  with  which  it  was  appointed  to  deal. 
From  the  days  of  Samuel  onwards  we  find  the  prophets 
standing  in  the  closest  relation  to  the  political  circum- 
stances of  their  times.  They  have  been  called  *  watch- 
men of  the  theocracy  V  and  undoubtedly  they  believed 
it  to  be  their  mission  to  intervene  from  time  to  time  in 
politics,  with  the  view  of  keeping  alive  in  the  minds  of 
their  fellow-countrymen  just  and  true  conceptions  of 
the  theocratic  state.  They  made  it  their  business  to 
watch  the  course  of  national  affairs  in  general,  and" 
specially  to  control  and  judge  the  conduct  of  the  reigning 
monarch  and  his  counsellors.  They  steadfastly  be- 
lieved in  the  fact  of  Israel's  election,  and  in  the  spiritual 
mission  with  which  it  was  charged.  The  exalted 
destiny  to  which  the  chosen  people  had  been  called 

1  Cp.   Riehm,   p.   206 ;    Bruce,   Apologetics,   p.   242  ;    Chief  End  of 
Revelation,  p.  217.     The  following  striking  remarks  of  M.  Darmesteter 
illustrate  the  same  point :    '  Le  Prophete  ne  predit  jamais.     II  voit  les 
grandes  lignes  de  1'avenir,  parce  que,  s'etant  fait  une  doctrine  et  une 
philosophic  du  monde,  il  se  fait  une  idee  nette  et  precise  de  la  destinee 
qui  attend  son  peuple,  suivant  la  voie  ou  il  s'engage  :  le  grand  mouvement 
des  choses  et  des  idees,  avec  leurs  consequences  lointaines  et  necessaires, 
est  la  seule  chose  qui  1'interesse  :  le  detail,  le  lait  concret,  le  petit  hasard 
de  1'actualite  lui  echappe  ;  il  1'ignore,  il  1'abandonne  aux  charlatans  de  la 
prophetic  '  (Les  Prophets  d' Israel,  pp.  137,  138). 

2  Darmesteter,  p.  246  :  '  Le  Dieu  des  prophetes  n'est  que  la  raison 
humaine  projetee  au  ciel.' 

3  Jer.  i.  8,  19. 

4  Cp.   Mic.  vii.  4;    Jer.  vi.   17;  Ezek.  iii.  17  ;  xxxiii.  7.     See  Oehler, 
Theology  of  the  O.  7\  §  162  and  Ewald,  op.  cit.  pp.  28,  29. 


278        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

could  only  be  fulfilled  by  continual  faithfulness  to  the 
great  religious  ideas  which  underlay  Israel's  vocation1. 
Accordingly  it  was  the  chief  aim  of  the  prophets 
to  keep  Israel  faithful  to  Jehovah  as  He  had  revealed 
Himself  at  Sinai,  as  a  God  in  whose  eyes  pure  worship, 
social  righteousness,  and  fraternal  charity  were  of 
supreme  value.  Further,  they  fulfilled  their  mission 
not  only  by  their  preaching,  but  by  their  own  lives. 
As  individual  '  men  of  God '  they  represented  typi- 
cally the  realization  of  that  living  fellowship  with  God 
towards  which  the  theocracy  ever  tended  as  its  ultimate 
goal.  And  in  their  unbroken  moral  converse  with  God, 
in  their  pureness  of  heart,  and  in  the  simplicity  of  their 
faith  and  dependence  on  Jehovah,  lay  the  secret  of  their 
influence  2.  It  has  been  said  that  by  producing  the  pro- 
phets Israel  realized  her  vocation  3.  Certainly  as  '  the 
servant  of  Jehovah  '  the  prophet  bore  a  title  which  was 
ideally  applicable  to  Israel  as  a  people,  and  which  ex- 
pressed the  actual  calling  of  each  individual  Israelite. 
For  the  ideal  of  the  Old  Testament  was  a  dispensation 
in  which  all  should  be  prophets  :  Would  God,  exclaimed 
Moses  when  Joshua  envied  for  his  sake, —  Would  God 
that  all  the  Lord's  people  were  prophets,  and  that  the 
Lord  would  put  his  Spirit  iipon  them  4.  The  prophets 
then  were  examples  of  the  illuminative  power  of  holi- 
ness and  single-hearted  devotion  to  the  will  of  God. 
Moreover,  their  fate  was  in  most  cases  typical.  Their 
position  might  vary  from  time  to  time  according  to  the 
disposition  of  the  reigning  monarch.  Prophets  were 
held  in  honour  by  kings  like  David,  Hezekiah,  and 
Josiah,  who  understood  the  necessity  of  maintaining  a 
close  connexion  between  the  national  life  of  Israel  and 
the  spirit  of  religious  faith  ;  but  sooner  or  later  their 

1  Cp.  Isa.  ii.  5. 

2  Cp.  Amos  iii.  7;    Wisd.  of  Sol.  vii.  27.     Riehm,  ATI.   Theologie, 
p.  204,  observes,  '  Die  hoheren  Stufen  prophetischer  Begeisterung  werden 
auf  eine  Gottverwandtschaft  der  Seele  zuriickgefiihrt.' 

Bruce,  op.  cit.  p.  195  ;  cp.  Robertson  Smith,  O.  T.  inj.  C.  p.  291. 
4  Prof.  Cheyne  remarks  that  this  idea  is  characteristic  of  the  post- 
exilic  period  (Aids  to  the  Devout  Study,  &c.,  p.  151  ;  cp.  p.  203). 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE         279 

fearless  denunciations  of  vice  could  scarcely  fail  to  bring 
them  into  collision  with  royal  self-will  or  with  popular 
prejudice  and  fanaticism  1.  One  and  all,  in  greater  or 
less  degree,  they  were  called  to  suffer  for  their  faith,  for 
their  boldness  in  rebuking  sin,  or  for  their  devotion  to 
the  revealed  will  of  Jehovah.  Thus  in  their  isolation 
from  the  world,  in  the  intimacy  of  their  relation  to  God, 
and  in  the  sorrows  which  they  were  called  to  endure, 
they  typically  embodied  the  ideal  vocation  of  the 
righteous  nation 2  viewed  in  its  entirety. 

The  prophets  then  were  the  accredited  guardians 
of  the  fundamental  ideas  upon  which  the  theocratic  state 
was  based.  Their  testimony  accompanied,  so  to  speak, 
the  historical  realization  of  the  divine  purpose  for 
Israel,  the  word  of  Jehovah  constituting  a  kind  of  con- 
tinuous commentary  on  His  acts.  Accordingly  we  find 
that  a  considerable  element  in  the  prophetic  function 
consists  in  the  elucidation  or  interpretation  of  past 
history  and  of  contemporary  events.  The  prophets 
trace  and  proclaim  the  ruling  principles  of  divine  action 
and  governance  :  and  specially  it  is  their  work  to  bring 
out  the  moral  significance  of  the  Mosaic  Law — a  task 
the  fulfilment  of  which  necessarily  brought  them  into 
relation  to  the  priests,  who  were  the  official  guardians 
of  the  law.  But  while  the  priests  were  the  permanent 
teachers  of  Torah,  the  prophets  were  occasional  mes- 
sengers of  Jehovah.  Through  the  priest  the  covenant 
people  exercised  its  privilege  of  drawing  near  to  God. 
Through  the  prophet  God  drew  near  to  His  people. 
Naturally  the  priests  submitted  themselves  to  the  pro- 
phets as  to  extraordinary  and  direct  agents  of  Jehovah  3 ; 
but  there  were  elements  of  antagonism  in  the  two 
orders  which  were  frequently  in  danger  of  coming  into 

1  Cp.  Schultz,  O.  T.  Theology,  vol.  i.  pp.  248  foil. 

2  Isa.  xxvi.  2  ;    cp.  Deut.  xxxii.  15  (Jeshurun).    Aug.  c.  Faust.  Man. 
iv.  2  says:  '  Illorum  hominum  non  tantum  lingua  sed  et  vita  prophetica 
fait.' 

3  Cp.  Konig,  Religious  History  of  Israel,  p.  160.     Kuenen,  Hibbert 
Lectures,  pp.  81  foil.,  discusses  the  teaching  office  of  the  priests,  and  the 
prophetic  complaints  of  their  shortcomings. 


28o        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

collision.  The  history  of  Israel  shows  how  strong  was 
the  tendency  of  the  priesthood  to  exaggerate  the  value 
of  ritual,  and  to  change  into  hard  and  fast  law  what 
originally  might  be  a  matter  of  variable  custom.  It 
was  obviously  the  interest  of  the  priesthood  to  exalt 
the  laws  of  ceremonial  purity  ;  they  would  be  apt  to 
lay  stress  on  details,  and  to  lose  sight  of  principles. 
But  the  prophets  were  more  concerned  to  insist  on 
Jehovah's  moral  requirement  as  a  whole  ;  and  in  putting 
morality  on  a  higher  level  than  ritual,  they  undoubt- 
edly continue  and  develope  the  teaching  of  Moses 
himself.  They  reassert  the  claims  of  justice  and 
mercy  which  the  ancient  legislation  of  the  Decalogue 
and  the  Book  of  the  Covenant  had  placed  in  the  fore- 
front 1.  Their  well-known  polemic  against  sacrifice 
does  not  indeed  amount  to  a  rejection  of  the  institu- 
tion, as  has  been  sometimes  asserted ;  but  they 
unquestionably  do  insist  that  punctiliousness  in  sacri- 
fice is  no  equivalent  for  civil  and  social  well-doing. 
What  they  abhor  is  '  religion  divorced  from  right  con- 
duct,' ritual,  however  costly  and  elaborate,  combined 
with  neglect  of  moral  obligations 2.  On  the  whole 
the  attitude  of  the  prophets  towards  sacrifice  is  nega- 
tive. They  content  themselves  with  '  condemning  such 
elements  in  the  popular  worship  as  are  inconsistent 
with  the  spiritual  attributes  of  J  ehovah  V  From  an 
early  period,  then,  in  the  history  of  prophecy  we  find 
a  tendency  towards  antagonism  between  prophets  and 
priests,  the  former  reminding  the%  latter  that  all  true 

1  Cp.  Driver,  Sermons  on  the  O.  T.  pp.  113  foil.     See  also  some  good 
remarks  in  Oettli,  Der  gegenwdrtige  Kampf  urn  das  A.  T.  p. ,9. 

2  See   Amos   v.  24;    Hos.   vi.  6;    Isa.    i.  16   foil.;    Mic.  vi.  8;    Jer. 
vii.  21  foil.     This  last  passage  does  not  imply  that  ritual  laws  formed 
no  part   of  the   Mosaic  legislation,  but  it  may  fairly  be  used  as  testi- 
mony (i)  that  in   Mosaism    the    most    important   element  was   ethical, 
(2)  that  the  elaborate  levitical  code  was  unknown  to  Jeremiah.     See 
a   note   in   Riehm,    ATI.     Theologie,   pp.    246,    247;    cp.    Wellhausen, 
Prolegomena,  p.  58.     Even  Konig  (Religious  History  of  Israel,  p.   168) 
allows  that  'religion  and  morality  were  from  the  beginning  the  basis  of 
Israel's  favour  with  God.' 

3  Robertson  Smith,  O.   T.  in  J.   C.  p.  305.     Cp.   Hos.  iv.  6  ;   Zeph. 
iii.  4. 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE         281 

Torah  must  move  within  the  lines  of  Jehovah's  original 
covenant  with  Israel.  In  a  more  awful  and  momen- 
tous form  the  antagonism  ultimately  meets  us  in  the 
pages  of  the  Gospel l. 

But  it  is  time  to  resume  our  main  theme — the  social 
and  political  conditions  of  the  period  in  which  the 
great  prophets  appeared  upon  the  scene  of  Hebrew 
history,  and  for  convenience'  sake  our  survey  will  be 
confined  to  the  northern  kingdom.  The  political 
activity  of  such  men  as  Isaiah  or  Jeremiah  in  the 
kingdom  of  Judah  exercised  so  profound  an  influence 
on  the  fortunes  of  the  Hebrew  state  and  on  the  de- 
velopment of  its  religion,  that  it  seems  better  to  omit 
any  detailed  reference  to  the  work  of  these  great  pro- 
phets than  to  deal  with  it  summarily  within  the  narrow 
limits  of  a  lecture.  The  eighth  century  was  indeed  a 
critical  epoch  in  Israel's  career.  Hitherto  prophecy  had 
frequently  taken  the  form  of  an  occasional  rebuke 
sternly  administered  by  individual  prophets  to  unright- 
eous rulers.  Thus  Samuel  had  rebuked  Saul,  Nathan 
had  denounced  the  crime  of  David,  and  Elijah  had  been 
the  divinely-appointed  scourge  of  Ahab  and  his  house. 
But  with  Amos  and  Hosea  the  spirit  of  prophecy  comes 
into  collision  with  the  temper  and  tendencies  of  the 
nation  as  a  whole,  and  in  so  doing  it  passes  into  the 
wide  sphere  of  social  and  political  activity.  The  general 
conditions  of  the  time  were  in  fact  rapidly  obscuring 
Israel's  sense  of  spiritual  and  moral  vocation.  In  the 
eighth  century  a  new  conception  was  dawning  upon 
thoughtful  hearts — che  idea  of  the  world  and  the 
world-empire.  It  was  an  idea  that  was  only  to  be 
deeply  impressed  on  the  minds  of  men  by  '  the  pitiless 
hammer-strokes  of  fate  V  And  the  prophets  discerned 

1  Consider  Luke  xxiv.  19,  20.     Schultz,  vol.  i.  p.  338,  remarks  :  '  This 
antagonism  naturally  showed  itself  still  more  plainly  where,  as  in  the 
northern  kingdom,  the  priesthood  wished,  in  spite  of  the  preaching  of 
the  prophets,  to  maintain  an  antiquated  and  impure  form  of  religion 
(Amos  vii).'     Cp.  Riehm,  A  77.  Theologie,  p.  208. 

2  Kittel,  Hist,  of  the  Hebrews,  vol.  i.  p.  242  ;  ii.  p.  259.     Cp.  Riehm, 
ATI.  Theologie,  pp.  224,  225. 


282         PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

that  Israel's  appearance  in  the  world-theatre  must 
necessarily  seal  her  destiny  as  an  independent  state. 
It  was  manifest  that  she  could  never  hold  her  own  as 
one  of  the  monarchies  of  the  East.  The  huge  and 

o 

restless  empire  of  Assyria  darkened  the  distant  horizon 
like  a  menacing  thunder-cloud,  but  the  storm  did  not 
immediately  burst.  Danger  from  a  nearer  quarter 
threatened  Israel.  In  the  reign  of  Jehu's  son  and 
successor  Jehoahaz  (circ.  815)  the  northern  kingdom 
was  harassed  by  the  pertinacious  hostility  of  Syria  x ; 
and  although  Israel  played  a  valiant  part  in  the 
ensuing  struggle,  its  deliverance  was  eventually  due  to 
the  intervention  of  the  Assyrian  power,  which  had 
already  begun  to  advance  in  a  westward  direction2. 
The  war  between  Syria  (Aram)  and  Assyria  ultimately 
broke  the  power  of  Damascus.  Israel  recovered  its 
strength  in  proportion  as  that  of  Syria  declined  3,  until 
in  the  reign  of  Jeroboam  II  the  northern  kingdom 
appears  to  have  reached  the  very  zenith  of  material 
prosperity.  But  the  social  and  economic  effects  of  long- 
continued  warfare  constituted  a  growing  peril  which 
prophecy  was  quick  to  discern.  The  cessation  of 
hostilities  had  indeed  led  to  a  great  increase  in  Israel  s 
wealth  and  resources,  but  the  simplicity  of  pastoral 
and  agricultural  life  had  vanished.  The  whole  con- 
ditions of  society  had  given  way  to  the  exigencies  of 
military  organization.  The  prolonged  struggle  with 
Damascus  had  impoverished  the  small  landholders  to 
such  an  extent  that  they  were  rapidly  sinking  into 
abject  poverty  and  even  slavery.  Meanwhile  the  court 
and  a  corrupt  aristocracy  absorbed  the  land,  and 
exhausted  the  wealth  of  the  nation ;  and  the  gulf 
between  class  and  class  became  every  day  wider  and 
more  menacing.  On  the  other  hand,  the  mercantile 
spirit  had  received  a  great  impetus  from  the  recent 
wars ;  the  sins  of  a  growing  and  insolent  middle  class 
began  to  make  their  appearance ;  there  was  a  vast 

1  2  Kings  xiii.  2  Cp.  2  Kings  xiii.  5. 

3  2  Kings  xiv.  25  ;  Amos  vi.  14. 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE        283 

amount  of  dishonest  trading,  and  considerable  harsh- 
ness in  the  exaction  of  debt.  Finally,  the  inveterate 
curse  of  oriental  life  was  embittering  the  social  miseries 
of  the  time,  viz.  venality  and  corruption  in  the  judges, 
with  its  inevitable  result  that  the  oppressed  classes 
were  left  without  hope  and  without  redress  ]. 

The  social  influence  of  the  prophets  has  sometimes 
been  exaggerated.  It  is  rather  misleading  to  call 
them,  as  Darmesteter  does,  '  a  series  of  religious  and 
political  tribunes  2 ' ;  or  to  speak  of  their  '  programme 
of  reform,'  as  if  they  were  mainly  social  agitators, 
intent  upon  overthrowing  the  existing  order  of  society. 
As  Professor  Robertson  Smith  pregnantly  observes, 
their  cry  is  *  not  for  better  institutions  but  for  better 
men  3.'  Beyond  doubt,  however,  the  prophets  were  most 
conspicuous  as  preachers  of  social  righteousness.  They 
were  champions  of  the  poor  and  oppressed.  The 
spirit  of  the  excellent  priest  described  in  a  recent 
French  romance  was  theirs.  '  I  am  not,'  says  the 
Cur£  de  Canton,  '  a  socialist ;  but  I  nevertheless  admit 
that  I  conceive  life  otherwise  than  as  a  continual 
battle.  And  if  there  is  such  a  battle,  I  shall  range 
myself  gladly  on  the  side  of  the  weak  rather  than  on 
that  of  the  strong4.'  The  prophets  waged  war  not 
with  wealth  as  such,  but  with  *  that  reckless  and 
material  temperament '  in  which  they  recognized  '  the 
completest  type  of  enmity  to  Jehovah  and  His 
religion5.'  In  one  and  the  same  spirit  they  denounced 
the  heartless  luxury  of  the  wealthy  and  the  material- 


1  On  the  social  conditions  of  Israel  and  Judah  in  the  eighth  century 
see  Kittel,  vol.  ii.  p.  313  ;  Robertson  Smith,  Prophets  of  Israel,  lect.  Hi, 
and  O.  T.  in  J.  C.  pp.  349  foil. ;    Darmesteter,  Les  Prophetes  d' Israel, 
pp.  36-40. 

2  Les  Prophetes,  &c.,  p.  122  ;  cp.  p.  141.      Cp.    Mill,  Representative 
Government,  pp.  40  foil.  (p.  17  in  popular  edition). 

3  O.  T.inJ.  C.p.  348. 

4  Lettres  d^m  Cure  de  Canton,  publiees  par  Yves  de  Querdec  (Paris, 
1895). 

5  Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  153.     Cp.  Meinhold,  Jesus  und  das 
A.  T.  p.  90 :  '  Der  Glaube  an  Gott,  den  Gott  Israels,  ist  ihnen  so  stark, 
dass  das  Benutzen  weltlicher  Mittel  zur  Rettung  des  Volks  als  Glaubens- 
losigkeit  erscheint.' 


284        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC    HOPE  [LECT. 

istic  aims  and  self-seeking  worldliness  of  statesmen  *. 
Further,  what  intensified  their  moral  indignation  at 
the  prevailing  iniquities  of  the  social  state  was  the 
outwardly  flourishing  condition  of  the  national  religion. 
Religious  worship  was  an  institution  at  once  pleasant 
and  fashionable.  There  were  stated  sacrifices  con- 
nected with  the  culhis  of  Jehovah,  and  religious 
festivals  in  abundance  ;  the  sanctuaries  were  thronged 
on  these  occasions  by  crowds  of  enthusiastic  and 
riotous  worshippers,  who  regarded  the  sacred  feasts  as 
a  legitimate  opportunity  for  self-satisfied  enjoyment 
and  tumultuous  revelry 2.  The  growth  of  national 
prosperity  which  followed  the  close  of  the  Syrian  wars 
was  popularly  accepted  as  a  comfortable  token  of 
divine  favour.  There  was  a  widely-diffused  notion 
that  under  no  circumstances  would  Jehovah  fail  to 
befriend  the  people  of  His  special  choice.  Israel  was 
the  favourite  of  God,  and  His  interests — it  was  con- 
fidently assumed — were  bound  up  with  those  of  His 
people.  Enough  and  more  than  enough  was  being 
done  to  secure  the  divine  regard  by  a  richly-appointed 
and  well-maintained  cultus.  Thus  any  prediction,  like 
that  of  Amos,  which  threatened  Israel  with  overthrow 
was  regarded  as  blasphemy  against  Jehovah.  Jehovah 
must  necessarily  side  with  Israel  against  its  foes.  To 
question  this  was  to  question  the  very  existence  of 
the  covenant  relationship  established  by  Mosaism. 
Accordingly  a  favourite  watchword  of  the  time  seems 
to  have  been  the  day  of  Jehovah 3,  a  phrase  w-hich 
embodied  the  general  expectation  of  some  overwhelm- 
ing and  triumphant  display  of  Jehovah's  favour, 
manifested  for  instance  in  the  overthrow  of  Israel's 
enemies.  Failing  utterly  as  they  did  to  recognize  the 
true  character  and  requirement  of  Jehovah,  the  people 
persistently  claimed  to  be  special  objects  of  His  favour 

1  See  e.g.  Amos  vi,  and  Isa.  xxx,  xxxi. 

2  Cp.  Cornill,  Der  Isr.  Prophetismus,  pp.  38  foil. ;    Kuenen,  Hibbert 
Lectures,  no.  2. 

3  Amos  v.  1 8  foil. 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE        285 

and  protection.  Jehovah  God  of  hosts  is  with  us,  they 
declared  :  vis  only  does  Jehovah  know  of  all  the  families 
of  the  earth.  But  while  from  this  confidently  assumed 
premiss  Israel  drew  the  conclusion,  '  Therefore  Jeho- 
vah will  take  our  part  and  defend  us  from  invasion,' 
the  earliest  of  the  great  prophets,  Amos  of  Tekoa, 
deduced  a  precisely  opposite  inference  :  Therefore 
will  H  e  punish  yoii  for  yoitr  iniquities  *. 

For  indeed  the  primary  work  of  the  prophets  was  to 
proclaim  not  salvation  but  judgment.  They  were 
confident  that  the  great  social  iniquities  of  the  time— 
the  luxury,  greed,  profligacy,  oppression,  and  practical 
atheism  of  the  upper  and  middle  classes — were  certain 
to  bring  upon  the  sinful  nation  a  crushing  retribution. 
Naturally  enough  they  ranged  themselves  on  the  side 
of  the  down-trodden  and  oppressed,  but  their  zeal  was 
inflamed  not  so  much  by  sympathy  for  the  poor  and 
suffering  classes,  as  by  a  passionate  belief  in  the 
supremacy  of  the  law  of  righteousness.  In  an  age  of 
glittering  prosperity  and  of  ostentatious  care  for  the 
externals  of  religion,  the  prophets  were  not  blind  to 
the  symptoms  of  a  profound  moral  corruption,  which 
they  knew  to  be  the  one  fatal  obstacle  to  the  mainten- 
ance of  the  covenant  relationship  between  the  Holy 
God  and  His  people.  They  proclaimed  ihat  because 
Jehovah  is  what  He  is,  the  theocracy  in  its  existing 
condition  must  be  inevitably  doomed.  The  foundation 
on  which  it  rested  was  rotten  2.  Thus  in  their  insist- 
ence on  the  moral  requirement  of  Jehovah  for  Israel, 
the  prophets  were  not  merely  acting  as  defenders 
of  outraged  rights  and  liberties,  or  as  champions  of 
the  poor  against  their  oppressors  ;  they  were  preach- 


1  Amos  iii.  2  ;  v.  14.     Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  124,  makes  the 
striking  remark,  '  This  terrible  "  Therefore "  must  have  been  as  a  bolt 
from  the  blue  to  the  popular  religious  consciousness  in  the  days  of  King 
Jeroboam.' 

2  Darmesteter,  p.  48,  mentions  the  '  four  axioms '  of  prophecy  :  '  What  is 
not  founded  on  righteousness  must  perish — Jehovah  has  revealed  His 
righteousness  to    Israel — Israel   is   bound   to   realize   and   embody   this 
righteousness — It  will  be  realized  in  the  future.' 


286        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

ing  '  the  august  idea  of  the  moral  government  of  the 
world  V 

3.  This  brings  us  to  a  third  point :  the  religious 
function  and  influence  of  prophecy.  It  is  often  stated 
that  the  prophets  were  the  creators  of  ethical  mono- 
theism ;  the  founders  of  that  *  true  biblical  religion 
which  came  to  its  fulfilment  in  Christianity  V  Certainly 
they  proclaimed  with  burning  and  passionate  ardour 
the  moral  element  in  Jehovah's  character.  They 
taught  that  His  anger  was  not  fitful  or  unreasonable, 
not  lightly  arising  or  falling  indiscriminately,  but 
essentially  and  perfectly  righteous.  Two  remarks, 
however,  suggest  themselves  in  regard  to  the  statement 
that  the  prophets  were  '  creators  of  monotheism/  In 
the  first  place,  it  is  necessary  to  protest  against 
the  idea  that  the  higher  conception  of  God  was  the 
outcome  merely  of  human  reflection,  or  the  product 
of  a  higher  phase  of  moral  culture.  What  the 
natural  evolution  of  religion  leads  to  we  see  in 
the  religions  of  heathendom.  The  gods  of  paganism 
were  deified  human  beings,  reproducing  the  attributes, 
or  at  least  some  one  attribute,  of  their  worshippers ; 
heathen  deities  wear  the  impress  of  the  national  or 
tribal  character  which  they  reflect.  But  the  God  of 
the  Hebrew  prophets  is  one  who  stands  in  sharpest 
contrast  to  His  people ;  indeed  it  is  their  unlikeness  to 
Jehovah  that  is  the  secret  of  their  threatened  ruin. 
Left  to  itself  the  northern  kingdom  would  have  chosen 
Baal,  and  the  worship  of  Jehovah  might  have  even 
disappeared  but  for  Elijah  in  the  ninth  century,  but 
for  Amos  and  Hosea  in  the  eighth  3.  Secondly,  the 
monotheism  of  the  prophets  was  no  new  article  of 
faith.  It  was  the  revival  of  a  belief  which  probably 
had  been  the  implicit  conviction  of  the  best  in  Israel 

1  Kuenen,  op.  cit.  p.  124. 

2  Pfleiderer,  Gifford  Lectures,  vol.  ii.  p.  45.    Cp.  Nicolas,  Des  doctrines 
religieuses  des  Juifs,  p.  25  :  '  Les  prophetes  sont  des  initiateurs  a  la  verite* 
divine  ;  les  premiers   ils  ont  entrevu  ce  spiritualisme  religieux  dont  le 
christianisme  a  etc"  1'expression  la  plus  e"levee.' 

3  Cp.  Oettli,  op.  cit.  p.  15. 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE        287 

ever  since  the  time  of  Moses  l.  The  vital  importance 
of  the  prophetic  doctrine  was  that  it  was  a  turning- 
point  in  the  transformation  of  faith  in  Jehovah  as 
the  national  God  into  a  universal  religion.  Pro- 
fessor Kuenen  has  pointed  out  that  the  doctrine  of 
Jehovah's  holiness  lifted  the  whole  conception  of  deity 
to  a  new  and  higher  sphere.  It  was  in  His  holiness 
that  Jehovah  was  unique,  and  if  holiness  were  an 
essential  element  in  the  divine  character,  the  God  of 
Israel  must  be  the  only  God  2.  He  cannot  belong  only 
to  one  particular  people  ;  every  nation  that  recognizes 
an  ethical  standard,  whether  it  be  the  law  of  nature 
written  in  the  heart 3  or  some  positive  code  devised  by 
human  wisdom,  stands  in  a  necessary  relation  to  the 
Holy  One  of  Israel.  Thus  while  we  are  not  justified  in 
concluding  that  the  idea  of  monotheism  was  entirely 
new  in  the  prophetic  period,  that  idea  was  undoubtedly 
proclaimed  with  fresh  emphasis,  and  under  circum- 
stances that  gave  precision  and  point  to  a  dimly-realized 
belief  which  hitherto  had  been  probably  confined  to 
a  very  small  circle  of  the  faithful4.  For  the  nation 
as  a  whole  cannot  have  been  in  any  strict  sense  mono- 
theistic. The  average  Israelite  regarded  the  gods  of 
the  heathen  as  really  existing  beings  who  within  theirl 
own  sphere  or  domain  were  as  powerful  as  the  God  or| 
Israel  in  His.  In  opposition  to  this  belief  the  prophets 
taught  that  where  the  law  of  righteousness  was  recog- 
nized, however  defective  or  rudimentary  might  be  its 
content,  there  the  sway  of  Jehovah  extended.  Right 
was  everywhere  right,  and  wrong  wrong.  If  the  God 
of  Israel  were  once  acknowledged  to  be  the  God  of 
righteousness,  His  dominion  must  necessarily  be  con- 
ceived as  co-extensive  with  the  law  of  righteousness 
itself,  in  a  word  with  the  inhabited  world.  The 
appearance  therefore  of  Amos,  the  earliest  of  the 

1  Cp.  Bruce,  Apologetics,  p.  176. 

2  Cp.  Kuenen,  op.  cit.  p.  119.  8  Cp.  Rom.  ii.  14. 

4  See    Robertson's   criticism   of    Kuenen,  Early  Religion   of  Israel, 
pp.  320  foil. 


288         PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

eighth-century  prophets,  forms  an  era  in  the  history  of 
human  thought.  Amos,  says  Cornill,  '  is  the  pioneer 
of  a  process  of  development  from  which  a  new  epoch 
in  humanity  dates.'  If  righteousness  is  indeed  the 
supreme  law  of  the  universe,  the  God  of  Israel  is  the 
God  of  the  whole  earth,  and  in  the  creed  of  Israel  are 
concealed  the  germs  of  a  world-religion. 

Mark  how  Amos  enforces  this  truth.  His  prophetic 
glance  extends  beyond  the  borders  of  Israel  itself. 
The  heathen  nations  are  arraigned  by  him  as  amenable 
to  the  judgment  of  God  for  offences  against  ordinary 
laws  of  humanity  and  international  good  faith.  Da- 
mascus, Philistia,  Edom,  Ammon  and  Moab— they 
also  are  subject  to  the  just  sway  of  Jehovah,  though 
they  acknowledge  Him  not.  On  them,  too,  Jehovah 
inflicts  the  penalties  which  are  the  expression  of  His 
necessary  resentment  against  human  sin  ;  it  is  His 
holiness  which  is  outraged  by  the  wholesale  barbarities 
inflicted  by  one  nation  on  another  ;  it  is  He  to  whom 
vengeance  belongeth  1.  What  is  this  but  an  anticipation 
of  St.  Paul's  statement,  The  wrath  of  God  is  revealed 
from  heaven  against  all  ungodliness  and  unrighteousness 
of  men  2  ?  Assuredly  in  this  prophetic  view  of  God, 
in  this  conviction  that  the  area  of  judgment  extends 
beyond  the  limits  of  Israel 3,  are  hidden  the  elements 
of  a  true  universalism.  The  teaching  of  Amos  is  still 
a  long  way  removed  from  the  generous  faith  which 
welcomed  the  nations  into  the  kingdom  of  God  and 
looked  upon  them  as  participating  in  the  privileges 
and  hopes  of  the  chosen  people  4.  But  that  faith  was 
already  implicitly  contained  in  the  doctrine  of  Amos 
that  Jehovah  was  the  God  who  had  controlled  by  His 
providence  the  restless  movements  of  the  nations,  or  in 
that  of  Micah  that  the  substance  of  Israel's  conquered 

1  Ps.  xciv.  i.  z  Rom.  i.  18.  3  Montefiore,  op.  cit.  p.  146. 

4  Montefiore  has  some  interesting  paragraphs  on  the  growth  of  the 
universalist  conception,  pp.  145  foil.  He  regards  the  prediction  of 
Isa.  xix.  22-25  as  'the  high-water  mark  of  eighth-century  prophecy' 
(p.  149). 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE         289 

foes  should  be  consecrated  unto  the  Lord  of  the  whole 
earth '. 

Corresponding  to  this  primary  conception  of  God  is 
the  prophetic  philosophy  of  history  2.  A  large  share 
of  attention  is  devoted  by  most  of  the  prophets  to 
Israel's  past  career.  They  delight  to  trace  the  course 
of  the  divine  dealings  with  the  chosen  people,  and  to 
point  out  the  critical  epochs  in  Jehovah's  self-manifes- 
tation. In  a  certain  sense,  as  we  have  seen,  their 
mission  is  extended  to  all  the  nations  in  turn.  Egypt, 
Tyre,  Asshur,  Edom,  Moab,  Babylon,  though  outside 
the  sphere  of  the  sacred  covenant,  were  within  that 
of  the  divine  governance.  But  the  real  distinction 
between  Israel  and  the  nations  consisted  in  the  fact 
that  Jehovah  was  not  to  His  elect  people  merely 
what  He  was  to  the  heathen — a  dimly  recognized 
power  making  for  righteousness,  but  a  covenant  God 
manifesting  Himself  and  making  known  the  laws  of 
His  operation  in  condescending  grace.  The  guilt  of 
Israel  was  conspicuous  in  proportion  to  the  degree 
of  divine  knowledge,  and  the  measure  of  divine  favour 
which  it  had  enjoyed.  Heathenism,  it  has  been  said, 
'  has  neither  a  religious  view  of  history,  nor  a  philosophy 
of  history  ;  for  it  knew  no  absolute  final  moral  purpose 
to  the  attainment  of  which  the  fates  of  the  nations 
were  to  serve  as  means.  Israel,  on  the  other  hand, 
knew  such  a  purpose  of  history — namely,  the  realiza- 
tion of  a  kingdom  of  God,  of  a  human  fellowship  and 
community  corresponding  to  the  holy  will  of  God/ 
It  was  the  belief  of  the  prophets  in  the  purpose  of 
a  righteous  God  that  made  them  for  all  mankind  '  the 
teachers  of  the  religious  view  of  the  world  which  con- 
templates all  that  is  perishing,  all  that  is  transitory,  sub 
specie  aeternitatis  V 

1  Amos  ix.  7  ;  Mic.  iv.  13. 

2  Cp.  Darmesteter,  op.  cit.  p.  208  :   *  La  philosophic  de  1'histoire  est 
ne'e  le  jour  ou  les  prophetes  crurent  trouver  au  monde  et  a  la  vie  un  sens 
et  un  objet.' 

3  Pfleiderer,  Gifford  Lectures,  vol  i.  pp.  191,   192.       Cp.  Robertson 
Smith,  Prophets  of  Israel ',  p.  138. 

U 


290        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

But  other  elements  were  contributed  by  the  pro- 
phets to  the  idea  of  God.  If  the  ethical  doctrine  of 
Amos  stood  by  itself,  it  might  appear  to  have  a  certain 
one-sidedness.  The  God  whom  he  proclaims  is  essen- 
tially a  moral  ruler  and  judge,  an  object  rather  of  fear 
than  of  love  or  trust1.  In  Hosea  we  discover  that 
which  forms  the  counterpart  to  the  teaching  of  Amos. 
By  Hosea  a  religious,  rather  than  an  ethical,  aspect  of 
God's  relation  to  Israel  is  brought  into  prominence. 
To  Amos,  God  is  Israel's  king  and  judge ;  to  Hosea, 
her  husband  and  father  :  to  Amos,  Israel  is  a  state, 
a  sinful  kingdom,  which  has  brought  upon  itself  the 
righteous  penalty  of  sin ;  to  the  mind  of  Hosea,  the 
house  of  Jacob  presents  itself  as  '  a  moral  individual' 
or  person,  whom  Jehovah  has  graciously  brought  into 
a  close  relationship  with  Himself2.  The  idea  indeed 
of  the  continuity  of  this  relationship  colours  Hosea's 
brief  retrospect  of  history.  In  the  career  of  Jacob, 
the  progenitor  of  Israel,  who  had  so  manifestly  ex- 
perienced the  strength  and  tenderness  of  Jehovah's 
pity  and  pardoning  love,  the  history  of  the  nation  was 
typically  summed  up.  Punishment  and  discipline— 
these  had  been  the  great  factors  in  Jacob's  life — but 
they  had  ever  been  controlled  by  an  unfailing  purpose 
of  grace;  they  had  been  the  instruments  of  moral  puri- 
fication ;  they  had  been  visible  proofs  of  Jehovah's 
abiding  favour.  I  will  not  leave  thee,  was  the  promise 
to  the  lonely  wanderer  at  Bethel,  until  I  have  done  that 
which  I  have  spoken  to  thee  of'6.  Similarly,  the  entire 
history  of  Israel,  from  the  days  of  the  patriarchs  down- 
wards, is  for  Hosea  the  history  of  ' a  single  unchanging 
affection  always  acting  on  the  same  principles,  so  that 
each  fact  of  the  past  is  at  the  same  time  a  symbol  of 
the  present  or  a  prophecy  of  the  future  V  Hosea  then 
crowns  the  doctrine  of  Jehovah's  justice  by  dwelling 
on  the  constancy  of  His  love.  It  is  noticeable  in  this 

1  Cornill,  Der  Isr.  Prophetismus,  p.  48. 

2  Robertson  Smith,  Prophets  of  Israel,  p.  165.  3  Gen.  xxviii.  15. 
4  Robertson  Smith,  loc.  tit.     Cp.  Hos.  ii.  15  ;  ix.  9;  Joshua  vii.  24. 


vi]         PROPHECY  AND    THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE         291 

connexion  that  the  favourite  word  of  Hosea,  Chewed, 
1  loving-kindness/  is  not  found  in  Amos.  The  use  of  it 
implies  that  between  Jehovah  and  Israel  there  exists  a 
relationship  of  love,  involving  mutual  obligations.  This 
love  is  sometimes  contemplated  as  marital1 — Israel  is 
the  betrothed  spouse  of  Jehovah,  whom  He  has  tended 
with  unwearying  faithfulness;  sometimes  as  parental- 
Israel  is  the  child  whom  Jehovah  has  taught  to  walk 
in  His  ways  with  watchful  and  considerate  tenderness  ; 
sometimes  as  covenantal — Israel  being  regarded  as 
a  single  person  pledged  to  observe  all  the  obliga- 
tions that  were  involved  in  covenant-union  with  God 
and  had  been  set  forth  in  the  ancient  Torah,  the  con- 
tinuous instruction  which  Israel  had  enjoyed  through 
the  mediation  of  the  priesthood  2.  The  word  Chesed, 
however,  is  by  no  means  confined  to  Hosea  ;  it  plays 
a  great  part  in  the  theology  of  the  Old  Testament. 
But  Amos  and  Hosea  maybe  regarded  as  the  represen- 
tatives respectively  of  that  twofold  aspect  of  the  divine 
character  which  is  so  familiar  in  the  Psalter.  Amos  is 
the  teacher  of  God's  faithfulness  or  truth  ;  His  entire 
self-consistency,  His  essential  fidelity  to  the  law  of 
righteousness.  Hosea  dwells  on  His  mercy;  His 
tenderness  and  loving-kindness  to  man — inviting  the 
response  of  a  similar  affection  on  the  part  of  man  3.  The 
word  Chewed  in  fact,  as  employed  by  Hosea,  suggests 
the  truth  that  '  those  who  are  linked  together  by  the 
bonds  of  personal  affection  or  of  social  unity  owe  to  one 
another  more  than  can  be  expressed  in  the  forms  of 
legal  obligation  V  As  a  term  of  common  life,  Chewed 
tends  powerfully  to  simplify  the  thought  of  God.  It 
anticipates  the  full  disclosure  of  the  New  Testament 
God  is  love. 

Thus  by  combining  the  teaching  of  Amos  and 
Hosea  we  are  enabled  to  form  an  impression  of  the 
epoch-making  significance  of  Hebrew  prophecy.  For 

1  Hos.  i-iii.    Cp.  Jer.  ii.  2,  iii.  I  foil.  2  Hos.  iv.  6  ;  viii.  1,12. 

3  See  iv.  i  ;  vi.  6  ;  x.  12 ;  xii.6. 
*  Robertson  Smith,  op.  cit.  p.  160. 

U  2 


292         PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

the  two  characteristic  thoughts,  one  of  which  each 
prophet  represents,  are  distinctive  and  permanent  ele- 
ments in  the  prophetic  conception  of  God.  The  one 
idea,  that  of  Jehovah's  righteousness,  reappears  in  the 
characteristic  teaching  of  Isaiah,  to  whom  Jehovah  is 
tJie  Holy  One  of  Israel- — not  merely  separate  from  the 
creation  which  owes  its  being  to  Him,  but  distinct  from 
all  that  is  limited  and  morally  imperfect  *.  It  is  this 
attribute  of  Jehovah  which  is  at  once  the  necessary  cause 
both  of  the  judgments  which  fall  upon  Israel,  and  of 
the  deliverances  by  which  He  vindicates  His  claim  to 
be  the  hope  and  confidence  of  the  faithful.  The  same 
idea  underlies  Ezekiel's  thought  of  the  greatness  and 
inviolability  of  Jehovah's  name,  which  in  a  sense  has 
been  profaned  both  by  Israel's  unfaithfulness  and  by 
the  ignominy  of  their  punishment 2.  On  the  other 
hand,  to  the  three  prophets  whose  writings  are  linked 
together  by  a  common  interest  in  the  great  passage, 
Exod.  xxxiv.  6  foil.,  namely  Micah,  Nahum,  and  the 
» writer  of  the  book  of  Jonah,  the  leading  element  in 
God's  character  is  His  mercy  and  loving-kindness  ; 
on  this  they  base  their  hopes,  not  of  Israel's  deliver- 
ance from  foes,  but  of  that  spiritual  enfranchisement 
from  sin  of  which  any  outward  salvation  was  only 
a  distant  emblem  3.  And  it  may  be  said  that  in  the 
wonderful  book  of  Jonah,  possibly  the  latest  product 
of  the  prophetic  spirit,  the  thought  of  the  divine  loving- 
kindness  receives  its  crowning  expression.  The  design 
of  the  book,  which  was  probably  written  in  the  post- 
exilic  period,  was  mainly  didactic4.  It  appears  to  have 
been  composed  with  the  aim  of  correcting  the  narrow, 
exclusive  particularist  idea— peculiar  to  the  Judaism  of 
that  period — viz.  that  the  sphere  of  salvation  and  grace 
was  confined  to  Israel  alone.  Jonah's  reluctance  to  do 

1  Cp.  Kirkpatrick,  The  Teaching  of  the  Prophets,  p.  175. 

1  Ezek.  xx.  9  foil. ;  xxxvi.  22.     See  Kirkpatrick,  op.  cit.  p.  339. 

3  Mic.  vii.  18-20.     Obs.  Mic.  vi  and  vii  appear  to  belong  to  a  later 
period. 

4  See  an  admirable  account  of  the  book  in  Hunter,  After  the  Ex'.le, 
part  ii.  chap.  3. 


vi]         PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE         293 

Jehovah's  bidding  and  his  anger  at  Nineveh's  repent- 
ance reflect  the  usual  attitude  of  later  Judaism  towards 
heathendom  1.  Jonah  for  the  moment  represents  the 
temper  of  which  Tacitus  hits  the  main  characteristic: 
adversus  omnes  alios  hostile  odium  2.  Such  an  attitude 
of  mind  was  indeed  in  direct  conflict  with  the  higher 
teaching  of  the  prophets.  Jeremiah,  for  instance,  had 
taught  that  even  in  the  case  of  the  heathen  repent- 
ance might  avert  the  punishment  of  sin  3.  And  among 
all  other  mysterious. features  which  make  the  book  of 
Jonah  one  of  the  most  precious  in  the  Hebrew  Canon, 
we  should  perhaps  assign  the  highest  place  to  its  evan- 
gelic purport.  Whenever  God  brought  Israel  into 
relation  with  any  heathen  people  it  was  for  the  purpose 
of  making  Himself  known  to  it  as  a  God  of  power  and 
grace  :  to  Egypt  by  Joseph  and  Moses  ;  to  Philistia 
through  the  capture  of  the  ark ;  to  Syria  by  Elisha 
when  he  healed  Naaman ;  to  Babylon  by  Daniel  ;  to 
Persia  by  Esther.  And  so  in  the  case  of  Nineveh,  the 
mission  of  Jonah  had  borne  witness  to  a  truth  which 
perhaps  could  only  be  adequately  recognized  in  a  much 
later  age — the  age  in  which  the  story  of  Jonah  was 
clothed  in  a  literary  form — the  truth  namely  of  the 
universality  of  God's  gracious  purpose  ;  the  possibility 
of  a  natural  goodness  that  implied  some  hidden 
operation  of  divine  grace 4 ;  the  fatherly  love  of  the 
Creator  and  His  compassion  for  all  that  He  has  made, 
His  mercy  extended  even  to  the  lowliest  of  all  His 
works.  This  is  the  last  word  of  the  book  of  Jonah,  and 
perhaps  in  that  word  we  have  the  farewell  voice  of 
Hebrew  prophecy.  Thus  the  writer  of  Jonah  is  linked 
to  Hosea  as  the  preacher  of  the  divine  love5. 

1  Cp.  Actsxiii.  45  ;  I  Thess.  ii.  16. 

2  Hist.  v.  5.     Cp.  Maurice,   The  Prophets  and  Kings  of  the  O.   T. 

P-  354- 

3  Jer.  xviii.  7  foil. 

4  There  seems  to  be  an  intentional  contrast  suggested  between  the 
conduct  of  the  Ninevites  and  that  of  Jonah  fleeing  from  God's  presence. 
The  conduct  of  the  heathen  sailors  is  also  presented  in  a  very  favourable 
light  (Jonah  i.  13  foil.). 

5  Meinhold,/<?my  und  das  A.  T.  p.  10.    The  book  of  Jonah  'ist  gegen 


294        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

I  have  said  enough  at  least  to  illustrate  the  religious 
influence  of  the  prophets  and  the  extent  of  their 
contribution  to  wider,  purer,  and  richer  conceptions 
of  God.  Before  passing  on,  we  may,  at  some  risk  of 
repetition,  call  attention  again  to  the  fact  that  the 
prophets  are  striking  examples  of  the  power  of  per- 
sonality in  the  development  of  religion.  Each  prophet 
is  in  his  own  way  and  degree  a  religious  genius.  And 
here  we  have  just  that  factor  which  is  antecedently 
incalculable,  and  which  any  naturalistic  account  of 
Israel's  religious  development  tends  to  ignore  or  mis- 
conceive. For  it  is  in  this  element  of  individuality 
that  Israel's  religion  is  so  distinct  from  that  of  sur- 
rounding peoples — an  element  which,  I  repeat,  is  the 
very  core  and  essence  of  prophetism.  A  religious  con- 
viction so  intense,  a  faith  so  glowing  and  so  tenaciously 
grasped,  as  to  mould  or  elevate  the  spiritual  life  of 
a  nation,  cannot  have  been  merely  the  result  of  un- 
inspired reflection.  We  can,  as  Schultz  points  out, 
only  be  historically  just  to  the  Old  Testament  in  pro- 
portion as  we  acknowledge  the  presence  and  working 
in  the  history  from  first  to  last  of  the  element  of 
divine  inspiration.  The  religion  of  the  prophets  is  in 
a  word  the  outcome  of  the  operation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  The  freedom,  independence,  and  force  of  the 
prophet's  personality  results  from  a  fact  of  which  he 
was  invariably  conscious — the  fact  of  his  being  called 
to  his  work  and  enabled  for  his  high  function  by 
Jehovah  Himself1. 

die  Engherzigkeit  des  Judentums  gerichtet  und  lehrt  dass  die  Juden 
(Jonas)  die  Aufgabe  haben  den  Heiden  (Nineve)  das  Wort  des  wahren 
Gottes  zu  verkiinden.  Denn  Gott  ist  ein  liebender  Vater  auch  der  Heiden 
und  ein  Feind  der  engherzigen  Abgeschlossenheit  des  Judentums' 
(Jonah  iv.  1 1).  See  CornilFs  enthusiastic  estimate,  Der Isr.  Prophetismus, 
p.  169.  ('  One  of  the  deepest  and  most  large-hearted  books  that  have 
ever  been  written'.)  Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  371  (cp.  Hunter, 
loc.  «'/.),  thinks  that  the  book  of  Ruth  may  have  been  written  with  a  similar 
intention.  Valeton,  Christus  und  das  A.  T.  p.  46,  points  out  that  in 
His  reference  to  it  (Matt.  xii.  39  foil.)  our  Lord  'sets  His  seal  to  the 
spirit  and  tendency  of  the  book  of  Jonah.'  He  deals  with  it  rather  as 
a  prophetical  than  an  historical  book. 
1  Cp.  Mic.  iii.  8. 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE        295 


III. 

We  now  pass  to  that  which  many  consider  to  be 
the  most  distinctive  feature  of  prophecy — the  element 
of  prediction.  The  Old  Testament  is  a  book  of  hope. 
It  is  the  record  of  a  constant  and  growing  anticipation, 
based  on  a  divine  promise  to  humanity,  and  embracing 
a  future  in  which  the  whole  race  of  mankind  has  an 
interest.  Now  the  Christian  student  of  prophecy  is 
guided  as  a  rule  by  one  of  two  objects.  He  either 
studies  the  history  of  the  Messianic  hope  in  the  apolo- 
getic interest — as  a  great  department  of  the  evidence  to 
which  his  religion  appeals  in  attestation  of  its  truth  ;  or 
he  investigates  it  for  the  purpose  of  personal  illumina- 
tion and  edification,  interpreting  by  the  aid  of  ancient 
prophecy  what  is  still  dark  and  mysterious  in  the 
dealings  of  God  with  men  or  in  the  primary  Christian 
facts.  He  uses  it  in  a  word  for  the  confirmation  and 
education  of  his  faith  in  pursuance  of  the  inspired 
writer's  injunction,  We  have  also  a  more  siire  word 
of  prophecy,  whereicnto  ye  do  well  that  ye  take  heed,  as 
unto  a  light  that  shineth  in  a  dark  place,  imtil  the  day 
dawn  and  the  day  star  arise  in  your  hearts^.  In  Old 
Testament  prophecy  we  have  a  s^lre  word  and  a  light : 
a  *  sure  word '  of  which  the  general  fulfilment  is  in 
large  measure  an  established  fact  of  experience  ; 
a  '  light '  or  '  lamp '  in  so  far  as  prophecy  brings  to 
bear  on  the  enigmas  of  human  life  the  revealed  laws 
of  God's  moral  government.  The  ordinary  concep- 
tion, however,  of  the  actual  development  of  Messianic 
ideas  has  been  in  some  degree  modified  by  the  con- 
clusions of  criticism.  Accordingly  my  present  object 
is  to  sketch  the  history  of  prophecy  in  such  a  way  as 
to  indicate  the  elements  which  successively  moulded 
the  image  of  the  Messiah  in  Hebrew  thought,  con- 
fining my  survey  however  so  far  as  may  be  possible 
within  Old  Testament  limits. 

1  2  Pet.  i.  19.     Cp.  Tert.  Apol.  xx. 


296        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

It  is  possible  to  trace  a  chronological  order  in  the 
stages  of  Hebrew  prophecy,  inasmuch  as  it  was  rooted 
in  the  history  of  Israel,  and  events  themselves  sug- 
gested the  ideas  which  we  call  Messianic.  In  its 
onward  movement  prophecy  continually  incorporated 
new  elements,  of  which  now  one,  now  another,  came 
to  the  surface.  The  peculiarity  indeed  of  Israel's 
career  was  that  it  lent  itself  so  easily  to  idealistic 
treatment,  and  Messianic  prediction  was  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  the  result  of  a  continuous  process  of 
reflection  on  the  history  of  the  past.  But  it  is  never 
a  simple  or  easy  task  to  discover  the  actual  birth  of 
an  idea.  In  general  no  doubt  it  is  true  that  advanced 
spiritual  ideas  postulate  a  relatively  advanced  stage 
of  moral  development ;  but  it  would  be  hazardous  to 
overlook  the  part  which  the  intuitions  of  spiritual 
genius  have  undoubtedly  played  in  the  growth  of 
religion.  Analogy  suggests  that  at  a  very  early  stage 
of  Israel's  history,  there  were  leading  spirits  who 
though  they  received  not  the  promises  yet  saw  them 
afar  off  and  were  persuaded  of  them  and  embraced 
them^.  We  do  not  know  all  that  lies  hidden  in  that 
mysterious  saying  of  our  Lord,  Your  father  Abraham 
rejoiced  to  see  my  day,  and  he  saw  it  and  was  glad  '2. 
On  the  whole,  however,  it  is  possible  to  distinguish 
certain  clearly  defined  stages  in  Messianic  anticipation 
—periods  in  which  a  particular  ideal  hovers  before 
prophetic  eyes  and  determines  their  vision  of  future 
events. 

i.  First,  then,  we  observe  that  the  primaeval  promise 
to  humanity  is  that  of  spiritual  victory.  '  Antagonism 
to  evil  is  decreed  to  be  the  law  of  humanity3':  and  it 
is  the  essence  of  the  Protevangeliiim,  that  it  promises 
to  man  as  man — to  universal  humanity — victory  over 
moral  evil.  Since  the  higher  life  of  man  is  to  be 
the  result  of  an  arduous  and  painful  struggle,  it 

1  Heb.  xi.  13.  2  John  viii.  56. 

3  Driver,  Sermons  on  the  O.  T.  p.  52.     Observe  Gen.  iii.  15  forms  part 
of  the  oldest  (prophetical)  narrative  (J). 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE        297 

essentially  consists  in  dominion,  in  victory.  Just  as 
the  words  Have  dominion  are  the  charter  of  man's 
position  in  the  universe ;  so  the  words  /  will  piit 
enmity  between  thee  and  the  zvoman,  and  between  thy 
seed  and  her  seed ;  it  shall  bruise  thy.  head,  and  thoic 
shalt  bruise  his  heel,  define  the  general  conditions 
under  which  man's  regal  destiny  shall  be  fulfilled. 
The  first  stage  of  Messianic  prophecy  as  embodied  in 
the  traditions  which  are  preserved  and  shaped  by  the 
writers  of  the  Pentateuch  consists  in  the  further  eluci- 
dation of  this  primary  idea.  The  promise  to  Abraham 
is  in  effect  a  promise  of  dominion — that  he  shall  be 
the  heir  of  the  world1-.  It  is  renewed  to  Isaac  and 
Jacob  as  heirs  with  him  of  the  same  promise*  in  terms 
which  suggest  that  ultimately  it  will  find  its  fulfil- 
ment in  an  individual 3. 

In  the  so-called  'Blessing  of  Jacob'  we  probably 
possess  the  earliest  testimony  to  the  nature  of  the 
hopes  in  which  the  expectation  of  a  personal  Messiah 
originated.  It  has  been  supposed  that  this  very 
ancient  poem  is  an  ode  composed  of  different  tribal 
songs  or  proverbs ;  it  perhaps  formed  part  of  an 
ancient  collection  of  national  poetry,  and  its  original 
compilation  may  belong  to  the  period  between  the 
Judges  and  the  reign  of  David4.  In  this  song  the 
passages  of  chief  importance  are  the  predictions 
relating  to  Joseph  and  Judah.  The  figure  of  Judah 
is  glorified  and  idealized  as  the  future  holder  of 
sovereignty  over  his  people.  On  him  are  to  depend 
the  destinies  and  the  eventual  triumph  of  God's 
kingdom.  Judah  is  depicted  as  a  ruler  or  judge,  with 
the  staff  of  office  in  his  hand ;  enjoying  a  dignity 
which  is  destined  to  give  way  only  to  a  more  complete 
and  perfect  form  of  sovereignty ;  which  '  in  other 
words  is  not  to  cease  at  all,  but  simply  to  develope 
into  a  glorious  kingdom  of  perfect  peace5/  To  this 

1  Rom.  iv.  13.  2  Heb.  xi.  9. 

3  On  the  phrase  'thy  seed'  cp.  Gal.  iii.  1 6  and  the  Commentaries. 
*  See  Schultz,  vol.  ii.  p.  336.  5  Schultz,  loc.  cit. 


298        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

comprehensive  picture  corresponds  the  prediction 
ascribed  to  Balaam  in  the  book  of  Numbers  (xxiv.  1 7). 
This  also  hints  at  the  sway  of  an  individual  which 
is  to  proceed  from  Israel,  and  is  to  extend  over  the 
other  nations  of  the  East.  Probably  the  primary 
reference  is  to  some  historical  king ;  but  the  prophecy 
becomes  the  foundation  of  more  precise  conceptions  of 
Messianic  sovereignty. 

So  far  prophecy  is  indeterminate  and  vague,  but 
we  must  note  that  the  actual  conditions  under  which 
alone  the  world-conquest  could  be  realized,  had  already 
been  foreshadowed  in  the  historical  incidents  of  Israel's 
deliverance  and  formation  into  a  people  of  Jehovah. 
The  prospect  of  national  triumph,  the  hope  of  an  age 
of  peace  after  national  struggle,  these  were  visions 
suggested  by  the  momentous  era  of  the  exodus. 
At  the  same  time  the  religious  separation  of  Israel 
from  the  rest  of  the  nation  and  the  promulgation  of 
the  law  at  Sinai  afforded  a  proof  that  the  future 
victory  of  humanity  would  depend  on  moral  and 
spiritual  conditions.  True,  the  victories  of  Israel's 
youth  were  prophecies  of  the  ultimate  exaltation  of 
God's  kingdom  over  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth, 
but  already  the  prophetic  spirit  would  discern  that 
the  historical  deliverance  was  after  all  only  the  type 
of  a  higher  and  more  blessed  deliverance ;  and  that 
the  judgments  of  God  descending  on  Israel's  enemies 
were  declarations  of  His  thoughts  in  regard  to  human 
sin  and  of  the  specific  character  required  in  those 
whom  He  had  formed  into  a  holy  community  for 
Himself. 

Further,  Moses  himself  was  a  typical  figure.  He 
had  been  indisputably  raised  up  by  Jehovah  to  be  the 
human  instrument  of  a  redemptive  purpose.  By 
a  prophet  Israel  had  been  brought  out  of  Egypt l. 
As  a  mediator  between  Jehovah  and  His  people, 
Moses  had  declared  the  mind  of  God;  he  had  em- 
bodied Jehovah's  revealed  requirement  in  a  written 

J  Hos.  xii.  13. 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE        299 

law.  The  principle  was,  as  it  were,  laid  down  that 
the  divine  guidance  of  Israel  would  be  direct  but 
mediatorial.  The  passage  in  Dent,  xviii.  15  foil, 
which  describes  Moses  as  a  '  prophet,'  thus  contributes 
an  important  element  to  the  Messianic  idea.  No 
doubt  it  primarily  refers  to  a  class  of  prophets 
through  whom  Jehovah  will  make  known  His  will 
as  occasion  may  require.  It  is  implied  that  prophecy 
will  be  an  integral  element  in  Israel's  development, 
an  essential  feature  in  the  true  religion.  But  the 
figure  of  the  prophet  already  points  to  a  Messianic 
counterpart.  The  consummation  of  the  divine  king- 
dom demands  not  only  a  line  or  order  of  inspired 
teachers  keeping  alive  the  sense  of  Jehovah's  con- 
tinual guidance  of  His  people,  but  a  ruler  and 
lawgiver  like  ^Mlto  Moses,  that  is,  one  in  whom  the 
divine  thought  for  man  will  be  finally  and  authorita- 
tively disclosed.  The  law  of  God's  redemptive  action 
already  manifested  in  the  person  and  work  of  Moses 
will  find  a  new  fulfilment  in  an  ideal  and  transcendent 
form  J. 

2.  Thus  the  course  of  events  constantly  tended  to 
give  greater  definiteness  and  precision  to  the  concep- 
tion of  Israel's  future  royalty ;  but  it  was  not  until  the 
reign  of  David  that  the  Messianic  idea  in  its  primal 
and  most  simple  form  was  expanded  and  developed  by 
the  associations  connected  with  visible  sovereignty. 
Riehm  observes  that  while  the  institution  of  the 
monarchy  involved  on  the  one  hand  a  certain  perilous 
materialization  of  the  Mosaic  ideal  of  a  theocracy,  on 
the  other  hand  it  was  a  necessary  element  in  the  con- 
solidation of  the  ideal.  And  the  significance  of  David's 
rule  is  that  it  clearly  manifested  the  compatibility  of 

1  We  do  not  find  the  promise  of  Deut.  xviii.  15  connected  with  the 
person  of  Messiah  elsewhere  in  the  Old  Testament,  though  possibly 
it  was  cherished  among  the  Samaritans  (see  Westcott,  Introd.  to  the 
Study  of  the  Gospels,  ch.  ii.  note  ii),  but  the  expectation  of  a  coming 
prophet  seems  to  have  revived  before  our  Lord's  advent.  It  is  implied 
in  Mai.  iv.  5.  See  also  I  Mace.  xiv.  41.  Cp.  Stanton,  The  Jewish 
and  the  Christian  Messiah,  pp.  126  foil. 


300        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

a  human  hereditary  monarchy  with  the  idea  of  a 
divinely  ruled  polity1.  In  David  the  hopes  of  the 
nation  were  centred,  as  in  one  who  had  been  chosen 
by  God  to  fulfil  and  realize  the  theocratic  sovereignty. 
Certainly  the  consciousness  of  such  a  vocation  and 
destiny  seems  to  find  expression  in  two  utterances 
which  sound  criticism  warrants  us  in  ascribing  to 
David  himself — Psalm  xviii  (2  Sam.  xxii.)  and  the- 
words  preserved  in  2  Sam.  xxiii.  1-8.  In  these  two 
passages  David  praises  God  not  only  for  signal  deliver- 
ances from  his  enemies,  but  also  for  loving-kindness 
which  is  pledged  to  his  house  for  evermore 2.  The 
promise  which  became  the  foundation  of  such  exalted 
hopes  is  indicated  in  the  account  of  Nathan's  oracle 
preserved  in  2  Sam.  vii.  4  foil.3 

It  is  possible  that  this  oracle  has  been  partially 
coloured  by  the  associations  of  Solomon's  magnificent 
reign,  but  in  the  main  it  seems  to  reflect  the  hopes 
which  the  men  of  David's  own  generation  connected 
with  his  name  and  family.  At  any  rate  it  is  beyond 
question  that  it  exercised  an  important  influence  on  the 
future  direction  of  Messianic  prophecy.  Three  main 
ideas  are  prominent  in  it :  (i)  The  human  descent 
of  a  promised  king.  He  is  to  be  a  son  of  David; 
and  so  fixed  did  this  belief  become  that  henceforth 
the  title  Messiah,  *  the  anointed,'  became  limited  spe- 
cially to  the  Hebrew  monarchs  regarded  as  lineal 
descendants  of  David's  house.  (2)  The  everlasting 
continuance  of  David's  throne  and  house.  The  family 
of  David  may  suffer  chastisement  and  humiliation, 
but  is  not  to  be  finally  rejected.  The  hope  of  ever- 
lasting dominion  was  in  fact  destined  to  survive  the 
lowest  humiliation  that  ultimately  overtook  David's 
descendants.  (3)  The  dignity  of  divine  sonship 
bestowed  on  the  theocratic  king,  who  is  to  stand  in 

1  ^477.  Theologie,  p.  194.  2  Ps.  xviii.  50. 

3  See  a  careful  note  in  Kittel,  Hist,  of  the  Hebrews,  vol.  ii.  p.  160. 
Cornill,  Einleitung  in  das  A.T.  p.  104,  regards  ch.  vii  as  probably  not 
earlier  than  the  time  of  Isaiah.  Cp.  Schultz,  O.  T.  Theology,  vol.  ii.  342  ; 
Cheyne,  Aids  to  the  Devout  Study,  &c.,  p.  26. 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND    THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE         301 

a  peculiar  relation  of  privilege  to  Jehovah  Himself; 
to  him,  in  other  words,  the  sacred  vocation  of  Israel 
is  to  be  specially  delegated.  Nothing  less  is  involved 
in  the  solemn  transference  of  the  title  '  son '  from 
Israel1  to  its  king  than  the  assumption  that  hence- 
forth the  holder  of  the  promised  sovereignty  is  to  be 
an  individual  of  the  reigning  house. 

This  oracle,  reflecting  the  Messianic  consciousness 
of  a  unique  vocation,  becomes  the  starting-point  of 
what  is  sometimes  called  '  figurative  prophecy,'  that 
is,  the  ascription  of  ideal  attributes  to  the  reigning 
monarch.  The  idealization  of  David  himself  and  of 
the  period  of  his  reign  begins  with  the  narrators  of 
the  books  of  Samuel,  and  reaches  its  climax  in  the 
representations  of  the  Chronicler.  To  prophets  like 
Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel,  whose  position  is  intermediate, 
the  name  of  David  became  the  recognized  symbol  of 
Messiah  2.  David's  reign  came  to  be  regarded  as  the 
pattern  of  Messianic  times,  a  kind  of  golden  age  in 
Israel's  history  ;  and  amid  the  calamities  of  a  later 
period  the  national  hopes  were  sustained  by  the 
promise  of  a  kingdom  framed  on  the  Davidic  pat- 
tern. Prophecy  henceforth  takes  a  new  development. 
The  king  who  from  time  to  time  sits  on  David's 
throne  is  seen  '  in  the  light  of  the  promise  made  to 
David,  and  in  that  light  he  is  transfigured 3 '  and 
invested  with  more  than  human  attributes,  whether  as 
victorious  warrior  (Ps.  ii),  or  as  royal  bridegroom 
taking  to  himself  a  consort  from  the  heathen  world 
(Ps.  xlv),  or  as  monarch  reigning  in  righteousness  and 
peace  (Ps.  Ixxii),  or  finally  as  one  who  combines  the 
functions  of  royalty  with  those  of  priesthood  (Ps.  ex), 
the  promised  dignity  of  the  Davidic  prince  with  the 
prerogatives  of  the  ancient  king  who  had  blessed  the 


1  Exod.  iv.  22. 

2  Jer.  xxx.  9  ;  Ezek.  xxxiv.  23,  24;  xxxvii.  24,  25  (referred  to  by  Cheyne, 
Aids  to  the  Devout  Study,  &c.,  p.  70).     Cp.  a  striking  passage  in  Mein- 

<?jz^  und das  A.  T.  p.  99. 

3  Perowne,  Commentary  on  the  Psalms,  Introd.  (vol.  i.  p.  54). 


302        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

patriarch  Abraham  himself1.  Thus  prophecy  creates 
a  kingly  image  with  ideal  attributes — each  monarch 
being  in  his  degree  a  type  of  the  coming  Messiah.  It 
is  true  that  in  Palestine,  as  in  the  East  generally — in 
Egypt  and  Assyria  and  Chaldaea — there  was  a  tendency 
to  deify  the  king  ;  to  regard  him  as  the  visible  embodi- 
ment of  the  divine  majesty2.  But  there  is  a  special 
significance  in  the  application  of  the  title  Elohim  to 
the  Hebrew  monarch.  It  implies  that  the  divine 
sovereignty  is  in  a  manner  actually  delegated  to  a 
human  representative.  The  theocratic  king  reigns 
and  feeds  his  flock  in  the  name  and  in  the  strength  of 
Jehovah  3.  He  occupies  a  unique  and  central  position 
in  the  kingdom  of  God — the  kingdom  of  righteousness. 
He  is  endued  with  a  full  measure  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
executing  God's  holy  will,  guided  by  His  wisdom, 
judging  with  His  righteousness,  even  revealing  His 
essential  attributes4.  We  may  observe  that  circum- 
stances at  one  time  elevated  the  thought  of  a  theocratic 
king  into  prominence,  at  another  time  threw  it  into  the 
background  ;  but  the  vision  was  never  completely  lost. 
In  the  days  of  the  disastrous  struggle  with  Assyria, 
when  the  world-power  attacked  the  kingdom  of  God 
specially  in  the  person  of  its  monarch,  the  figure  of  the 
king  naturally  became  the  centre  of  Israel's  hopes ; 
through  the  king  there  would  be  deliverance  from  the 
national  foe ;  in  allegiance  to  David's  house  alone 
would  there  be  any  prospect  of  salvation  for  the  hardly- 
pressed  northern  kingdom5.  For  in  an  age  of  distress 
and  decay  it  was  the  figure  of  David  that  lived  in  the 
memory  of  the  nation — David  taken  from  the  sheep- 
folds  to  feed  Jehovah's  people;  David  the  ruler  of 
strong  hand  and  powerful  arm,  wise  of  heart  as  an  angel 
of  GodG.  In  the  most  distressful  days  faith  clung  to 
the  covenant  established  by  Jehovah  with  David  and 

1  Heb.  vii.  4  foil.  2  Schultz,  vol.  i.  p.  169.  3  Mic.  v.  2-4. 

4  See  Isa.  ix.  6  and  xi.      Isa.  xi.  is  called  by  Darmesteter  '  une  vision 
de  paix,  qui  depuis  a  hante  1'univers  '  (Les  Prophetes  d' Israel,  p.  63). 
6  Hos.  i.  ii  ;  iii.  5  ;  Amos  ix.  n  foil.     Cp.  Jer.  1.  4. 
6  2  Sam.  xiv.  17,  20;  xix.  27. 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE        303 

his  house.  *  Thus/  says  Schultz,  '  it  was  a  faith  in 
things  not  seen,  a  faith  in  the  everlasting  significance 
of  this  house/  It  is  a  phenomenon  without  parallel 
in  history  that  even  under  the  worst  disasters  of  a  later 
period  '  the  confident  hope  of  seeing  the  Saviour  of  the 
future  born  of  this  dishonoured  family  was  never  lost  V 
We  may  briefly  notice  some  other  associations  which 
are  never  quite  absent  from  the  scriptural  idea  of 
royalty.  David  was  a  typical  man  of  war,  and  the 
Messianic  ideal  did  not  fail  accordingly  to  include  the 
element  of  victorious  triumph  over  foes.  The  title  of 
king  was  essentially  that  of  a  warrior,  a  leader  of  hosts 
in  the  wars  of  the  Lord.  The  notion  of  sovereignty 
thus  implied  the  deliverance  of  Jehovah's  people  from 
their  enemies  and  a  perpetual  extension  of  the  boun- 
daries of  God's  kingdom.  Under  the  title  *  king '  applied 
to  Messiah  we  discern  'the  potency  and  promise'  of 
universalist  ideas.  The  Messiah  must  reign  till  he  hat/i 
put  all  enemies  under  his  feet 2.  But  this  aspect  of  the 
Messianic  character  was  not  the  most  prominent.  One 
of  the  best-known  representations  of  Messiah  depicts 
him  as  making  his  entry  into  Jerusalem  in  the  garb  of 
a  prince  of  peace,  just  and  having  salvation,  lowly  and 
riding  ^lpon  an  ass,  arid  upon  a  colt  the  foal  of  an  ass : 
without  the  implements  of  war  he  extends  his  right- 
eous sway.  He  shall  speak  peace  imto  the  heathen,  and 
his  dominion  shall  be  from  sea  even  to  sea,  and  from  the 
river  even  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  3.  A  typical  passage 
which  combines  the  idea  of  a  peaceful  rule  with  world- 
wide conquest  is  to  be  found  in  the  prophecy  of  Micah 
(chapter  v),  which  represents  the  future  Saviour  as 
feeding  His  people  in  the  strength  of  Jehovah,  in  the 
majesty  of  the  name  of  Jehovah  his  God\  and  the 
remnant  of  Jacob  shall  be  in  the  midst  of  many  people 

1  O.  T.  Theology,  vol.  i.  p.  173.  Cp.  Hunter,  After  the  Exile,  part  i. 
pp.  225  foil.  2  I  Cor.  xv.  25. 

3  Zech.  ix.  9,  10.  The  date  of  Zech.  ix-xiv  is  very  uncertain.  See  Kirk- 
patrick,  Doctrine  of  the  Prophets,  pp.  440  foil.  ;  Cornill,  Der  Isr.  Prophe- 
tismus,  p.  1 66.  Schultz,  ii.  416,  and  apparently  Riehm,  regard  Zech. 
ix-xi  as  pre-exilic. 


304        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

as  a  dew  from  Jehovah,  as  the  showers  upon  the  grass  ; 
but  also  as  a  lion  among  the  beasts  of  the  forest -,  while 
Messiah  executes  vengeance  upon  the  heathen,  such  as 
they  have  not  heard*.  The  two  conceptions  illustrate 
the  effect  on  the  imagination  of  the  prophets  of  the 
two  primary  facts  in  the  historical  situation  during 
the  time  when  Micah  wrote.  The  advance  of  the 
Assyrian  power  no  doubt  gave  a  stimulus  to  the  con- 
ception of  a  world-monarchy  advanced  by  warlike 
prowess ;  but  the  permanent  form  of  Messianic  pre- 
diction was  mainly  determined  by  visions  of  a  stable 
and  peaceful  re-establishment  of  David's  kingdom  2. 

3.  Another  permanent  element  in  Messianic  prophecy 
is  the  idea  of  a  personal  manifestation  or  intervention 
of  Jehovah  to  set  up  His  kingdom  as  sovereign  in 
Zion.  The  final  purpose  of  the  kingdom  of  God  is 
to  manifest  Jehovah  Himself  as  supreme  over  the 
universe  :  for  he  cometh,  for  he  cometh  to  judge  the 
earth:  he  shall  jud^e  the  world  with  righteousness 
and  the  peoples  with  his  truth 3.  As  we  shall  see, 
the  prophets  do  not  attempt  to  adjust  or  correlate 
the  two  parallel  lines  of  thought  which  pervade  their 
writings.  They  look  upon  the  Messianic  salvation 
sometimes  as  the  work  of  a  Davidic  king,  sometimes, 
on  the  other  hand,  as  the  outcome  of  Jehovah's 
personal  visitation  of  His  people.  But  in  any  case, 
whoever  may  be  from  time  to  time  the  instrument 
in  effecting  His  redemptive  purpose,  it  is  Jehovah 
Himself  who  is  the  real  and  sole  source  of  help 
and  deliverance.  Further,  the  day  of  divine  mani- 
festation is  a  turning-point  in  human  history,  the  day 
of  judicial  intervention,  the  day  of  God's  decisive  act, 
the  day  of  the  Lord.  We  have  noticed  the  blind 
confidence  with  which  the  mass  of  Israelites  clung  to 
the  thought  of  this  day  as  an  object  of  hope  in  all 

1  Mic.  v.  4,  7,  8,  15. 

2  On  the  significance  of  Hezekiah's  reign  in  relation  to  the  Messianic 
hope  see  Darmesteter,  Les  Prophetes  d"1  Israel,  pp.  60  foil. 

3  Ps.  xcvi.  10,  13  ;  xcvii.  i  ;  xcviii.  9,  &c.     Cp.  Schultz,  vol.  ii.  p.  354. 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE        305 

times  of  distress.  It  was  supposed  to  be  '  self-evident 
that  the  crisis  would  certainly  end  in  favour  of  Israel  '.' 
We  have  seen  that  it  was  the  special  task  of  Amos  to 
denounce  this  temper,  and  to  proclaim  the  unpalatable 
truth  that  only  through  the  overthrow  of  the  existing 
theocracy  and  the  salvation  of  a  mere  remnant  would 
the  purpose  of  God  be  accomplished2.  It  was  incon- 
ceivable that  in  view  of  the  moral  corruptions  of  the 
time  there  should  be  deliverance  except  by  the  way  of 
judgment.  Accordingly,  from  the  rise  of  prophecy 
until  its  close  in  literature  of  a  definitely  apocalyptic 
type  the  thought  of  the  day  of  the  Lord  continually  re- 
appears. It  was  to  be  a  day  of  outward  terror ;  the 
ordinary  course  of  nature  would  be  violently  inter- 
rupted ;  the  sun  would  be  darkened,  the  moon  turned 
into  blood ;  the  earth  would  tremble ;  the  works  of 
man  would  one  and  all  be  brought  low  ;  his  loftiness 
would  be  humbled  to  the  dust3.  It  was  to  be  a  day 
of  moral  sifting,  a  manifestation  of  divine  indignation 
against  wickedness :  cruel  both  with  wrath  and  fierce 
anger  to  lay  the  land  desolate  ;  and  he  shall  destroy  the 
sinners  thereof  oiit  of  it^.  It  would  be  a  day  of  judg- 
ment in  which  God  would  test  and  refine  not  only  the 
nations  of  the  heathen  world  but  His  own  people  by 
the  spirit  of  judgment  and  by  the  spirit  of  burning*. 
Jehovah  alone  shall  be  exalted  in  that  day.  With 
a  searching  visitation  He  will  vindicate  His  outraged 
majesty,  He  will  purge  His  kingdom  of  all  that 
offends  6. 

This  is  one  aspect  of  the  day  of  the  Lord.  But  it 
has  another  side.  It  is  a  day  ushering  in  the  blessings 
of  the  Messianic  age.  Though  the  corrupt  mass  of 
the  people  are  warned  not  to  wish  for  a  day  which  to 
them  shall  be  darkness  and  not  light*1,  the  true  Israel  is 
encouraged  to  look  forward  to  it  with  hope  and  joy. 
For  the  day  of  the  Lord  will  be  a  day  of  vengeance  on 

1  Wellhausen,  Sketch,  £c.  p.  83.  2  Amos  ix.  8,  9. 

8  Isa.  ii.  12  foil.  4  Isa.  xiii.  9.  5  Isa.  iv.  4. 

6  Isa.  i.  24  foil.  7  Amos  v.  18. 

X 


306        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

Israel's  oppressors,  a  day  of  release  and  of  consolation. 
God's  people  shall  with  their  eyes  behold  and  see  the 
reward  of  the  ungodly  1.  Further,  we  find  that  the 
picture  of  the  Messianic  deliverance  varies  according 
as  one  heathen  power  or  another  is  the  temporary 
oppressor  of  Jehovah's  people.  '  The  prophetic  oracles/ 
says  Dr.  Bruce,  '  were  addressed  to  the  present,  were 
rooted  in  the  present,  were  expressed  in  language  suited 
to  the  present,  and  pointed  to  a  good  in  the  near  future 
forming  a  counterpart  to  present  evil  or  to  an  evil 
in  the  near  future  which  was  to  be  the  penalty  of 
present  or  past  sin2/  If  Jerusalem  is  threatened  by 
hostile  armies,  hard  pressed  and  compassed  about, 
standing  in  the  midst  of  a  wasted  and  ruined  land  like 
a  lodge  in  a  garden  of  cucumbers,  the  blessing  of  the 
future  shall  be  the  vision  of  Jemsalem  a  quiet  habitation, 
a  tabernacle  that  shall  not  be  taken  down,  an  island  pro- 
tected by  broad  rivers  and  streams,  wherein  shall  go  no 
galley  with  oars,  neither  shall  gallant  ship  pass  thereby 3. 
If  Israel  is  carried  away  captive,  merged  and  over- 
whelmed in  the  sea  of  nations,  cut  off  from  life  and 
hope — the  promise  is  given  of  a  resurrection,  a  bring- 
ing back  from  the  grave,  a  revival  of  perished  hopes 
by  the  renewing  might  of  Jehovah's  Spirit4.  Forlorn, 
exiled,  and  scattered  as  they  seem,  the  children  of 
Zion  may  look  forward  to  a  home-coming  more  glorious, 
more  amazing  even  than  the  exodus  from  Egypt.  The 
day  of  the  Lord  is  not  merely  a  terror  to  the  evil ;  it  is 
to  be  a  day  of  everlasting  joy  to  the  righteous.  The 
ransomed  of  the  Lord  shall  return  and  come  to  Zion 
with  songs  and  everlasting  joy  upon  their  heads ;  they 
shall  obtain  joy  and  gladness,  and  sorrow  and  sighing 
shall  flee  away  5. 

At  this  point  it  may  be  well  to  notice  some  limi- 
tations in  the  prophetic  vision  of  Israel's  future.     We 

1  Ps.  xci.  8. 

2  Bruce,    Chief  End  of  Revelation,   p.   221  ;    cp.   Riehm,  Messianic 
Prophecy,  pp.  95  foil. 

3  Isa.  i.  8 ;  xxxiii.  20.  *  Ezek.  xxxvii.  5  Isa.  xxxv.  10. 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE        307 

have  seen  that  two  great  elements  alternate  in  pro- 
phetic thought — the  glory  of  a  Davidic  king,  and  the 
personal  manifestation  of  Jehovah ;  and  that  the 
promised  redemption  of  Zion  is  connected  now  with 
one  element,  now  with  the  other.  But  the  two  lines  of 
thought  are  parallel,  and  are  nowhere  actually  combined 
in  the  picture  of  a  single  divine-human  figure.  They 
are  continuous  and  co-existent  elements  in  Messianic 
prediction.  They  meet  us  again  in  the  writings  of 
Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel.  In  the  last-mentioned  prophet 
the  two  ideas  are  found  in  close  juxtaposition.  Jeho^- 
vah  Himself  is  the  shepherd  of  His  people,  and  the 
Davidic  king  is  a  prince  ruling  in  His  name1.  Further, 
nothing  is  more  remarkable  than  the  adherence  of  the 
prophets  to  the  forms  and  figures  suggested  by  present 
experience.  They  picture  a  kingdom  of  God  visibly 
founded  on  earth  ;  they  regard  Jerusalem  as  the  neces^ 
sary  centre  of  Messianic  government,  and  as  the  spot 
where  the  divine  self-manifestation  will  ultimately  take 
place.  Jn  these  representations  we  recognize  the  effect 
produced  by  the  magnificence  of  Solomon's  temple 
and  the  worship  connected  with  it.  The  visible  theo^ 
cratic  institutions  in  fact  coloured  the  entire  picture  of 
the  future,  and  though  Jeremiah  in  days  of  feligious 
and  political  upheaval  was  able  to  rise  in  a  measure 
above  these  limitations 2,  the  prophetic  thought  of 
a  later  period  reverted  to  the  earlier  conceptions. 
Thus  the  prophecy  of  Ezekie)  closes  with  the  vision 
of  the  restored  temple  as  the  earthly  dwelling-place  of 
Jehovah  in  the  midst  of  His  people,  while  the  later 
Isaiah  looks  for  the  restoration  of  Jerusalem  in  radiant 
splendour  as  the  scene  of  a  spiritualized  levitical 
worship  in  which  all  nations  of  the  earth  are  summoned 
to  participate  :\  Again,  in  predicting  future  blessings 

1  See  Ezek.  xxxiv.  n,  23,  24,  and  xxxvii.  22,  24,  25  ;   Jer.  xxiii.  3-6,  15. 
Cp.  Schultz,  vol.  ii.  pp.  417  foil.  ;    Kirkpatrick,  Doctrine  of  the  Prophets, 
p.  312.     Obs.  in  the  apocalyptic  writings  the  two  conceptions  are  united, 
the  figure  of  the  Messiah  being  invested  with  a  halo  of  superhuman  glory. 

2  Jer.  iii.  16  foil. ;  xxxi.  29-34.   Cp.  Riehm,  A  27.  Theologie,  pp.  220,  221. 

3  Cp.  Zech.  xiv,  and  Cornill's  remarks  on  it  (Der  Isr.  Prophetismus, 
pp.  166  foil.).     See  also  Kuenen,  Hibbert  Lectures,  pp.  108,  109. 

X  2 


3o8        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

the  prophets  know  not  the  time  or  manner  of  fulfilment. 
To  them  the  present  and  future  are  contiguous  and 
as  yet  undistinguished.  Each  prophet  gives  an  inde- 
pendent picture  of  the  future,  exhibiting  it  from  his 
own  standpoint  and  depicting  it  in  terms  suggested  by 
the  actual  experiences  of  his  own  time.  A  living  hope 
indeed  is  inevitably  inclined  to  hasten  the  natural 
course  of  events  ;  it  regards  each  crisis  as  final,  and 
the  conditions  of  the  moment  as  ripe  for  the  occurrence 
of  a  catastrophe.  In  general,  therefore,  the  prophets 
proclaim  salvation  as  a  blessing  of  the  immediate 
future ;  yet  the  delay  of  the  promised  consummation 
does  not  shatter  their  hope  and  confidence,  partly 
because  they  regard  even  a  small  and  relative  measure 
of  fulfilment  as  a  pledge  of  an  ampler  and  more  decisive 
deliverance  yet  to  come,  partly  because  they  are  keenly 
alive  to  the  conditional  character  of  Jehovah's  word, 
since  impenitence  or  apostasy  on  Israel's  part  neces- 
sarily interrupts  or  postpones  the  advent  of  Messianic 
times1.  But  whether  remote  or  near  at  hand,  the 
coming  of  Messiah  was  the  consummation  on  which 
hope  was  fixed.  '  The  long  vista  of  expectation 
was  closed  with  His  form2.'  Faith  waited  for  Him 
that  should  come  and  did  not  look  for  another  3.  As 
king  He  would  be  supreme,  as  prophet  or  teacher  He 
would  bring  a  final  and  authoritative  message  from 
God  to  man  4.  The  unclouded  light  of  truth  and  the 
blessings  of  righteous  sovereignty  were  alike  connected 
with  His  advent.  The  age  of  the  Messiah  was  an 
epoch  beyond  which  prophecy  did  not  look,  since 
it  would  inaugurate  an  era  of  eternal  peace  and 
blessedness 5. 

4.  But  to  proceed.  When  royalty  in  and  after  the 
days  of  Manasseh  declined  in  influence  and  prestige, 
and  the  national  fortunes  became  more  and  more 

1  Cp.  Riehm,  A  77.  Theologie,  p.  222. 

2  Stanton,  The  Jewish  and  the  Christian  Messiah,  p.  148. 

8  Matt.  xi.  3.  4  Cp.  John  iv.  25  (Westcott,  ad  loc.). 

5  Cp.  Stanton,  loc.  cit* 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE        309 

disconnected  from  those  of  the  reigning  house, 
another  Messianic  conception,  at  which  earlier  prophets 
had  already  hinted,  rose  into  prominence — that  of 
the  holy  remnant  or  true  people  of  God.  It  was 
a  period  of  violent  reaction  against  the  teaching  of 
the  prophets,  which  lasted  for  about  fifty  years.  The 
contrast  between  Manasseh's  reign  and  that  of  his 
father  Hezekiah  has  been  justly  compared  to  that 
which  is  presented  by  the  era  of  the  Stuart  restoration 
in  its  relation  to  the  Puritan  ascendency  which  pre- 
ceded it.  The  insolent,  materialistic  spirit  of  libertinism 
revived.  Jerusalem  again  became  the  scene  of  strange 
idolatries ;  Manasseh  himself  practised  the  hideous 
rites  of  Moloch  worship ;  the  arts  of  sorcery,  magic, 
and  soothsaying  amused  the  indolence  of  a  corrupt 
court.  The  living  voice  of  prophecy  sank  into  silence1, 
and  was  only  again  uplifted  when  Josiah  had  ascended 
the  throne.  Moreover,  from  this  time  onwards  an 
increasing  volume  of  calamity  threatened  the  Jewish 
state.  Before  the  close  of  Manasseh's  reign  (638)  the 
terrible  inroads  of  the  Scythian  hordes  took  place. 
They  overran  for  a  period  of  twenty  years  the  greater 
part  of  western  Asia,  spreading  desolation  and  terror 
to  the  very  borders  of  Egypt.  Meanwhile  Nineveh 
was  tottering  to  its  fall  (607);  then  followed  a  struggle 
for  supremacy  between  the  giant-powers  of  Babylon 
and  Egypt,  which  was  decided  by  Nebuchadnezzar's 
defeat  of  the  Egyptian  army  at  Carchemish  (605). 
The  period  was  in  fact  one  of  almost  unbroken  excite- 
ment, terror,  and  distress;  the  effects  of  Josiah's 
attempted  reformation  of  worship  on  the  basis  of  the 
Deuteronomic  law  were  superficial  and  soon  passed 
away;  it  was  manifest  that  for  Jerusalem  the  day  of 
reckoning  was  close  at  hand.  Zephaniah  at  the  be- 
ginning of  Josiah's  reign  had  already  proclaimed 
that  in  the  impending  deluge  of  judgment  Israel 
would  by  no  means  escape.  Habbakuk  represents 

1  Darmesteter,  pp.  65,  66.    Possibly,  as  Ewald  and  Cornill  hold,  Micah 
chh.  vi,  vii  belong  to  the  reign  of  Manasseh. 


3io        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

the  patience  of  faith  waiting  on  God  amid  universal 
convulsion.  Jeremiah  is  the  prophet  of  Jerusalem's 
fall J.  He,  together  with  Habbakuk,  gives  utterance 
to  the  distress  of  that  righteous  remnant  of  Israel 
which  in  an  evil  time  had  set  itself  to  seek  God.  The 
whole  problem  of  suffering  began  to  press  for  solu- 
tion ;  and  rightly  to  estimate  the  spiritual  importance 
of  the  epoch  which  began  with  Josiah's  death  (about 
609)  and  only  ended  with  the  return  from  exile,  we 
must  bear  in  mind  its  general  character :  the  entire 
period  was  one  of  judgment,  inevitable,  crushing, 
and  complete.  The  sorrows  of  the  holy  seed,  the 
spiritual  Israel,  in  the  land  of  captivity  served  to 
accentuate  the  problem  which  perplexed  the  minds  of 
Israel's  prophets  and  saints.  The  faithful  remnant, 
conscious  of  its  own  integrity  of  heart  and  of  its  newly- 
awakened  zeal  for  God,  was  overwhelmed  in  the 
common  calamity  which  had  overtaken  the  nation. 
Old  theories  of  retribution  had  thereby  been  proved 
to  be  inadequate.  A  new  doctrine  of  suffering  was 
imperatively  needed  to  account  for  the  new  circum- 
stances in  which  the  righteous  found  themselves  placed. 
And,  speaking  broadly,  it  is  not  inaccurate  to  say  that 
the  lesson  which  above  all  others  Israel  learned  in 
its  day  of  calamity  was  the  real  meaning  and  purpose 
of  suffering. 

The  principal  pictures  of  the  righteous  sufferer  con- 
tained in  the  Old  Testament  —  for  instance,  the 
twenty-second  psalm,  the  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah, 
the  story  of  Job — seem  to  embody  the  deepened 
spiritual  experience  of  the  exile.  In  these  great  pas- 
sages of  Scripture  tribulation  is  recognized  as  being  not 
merely  a  judgment  upon  human  sin,  but  an  element 
in  the  progress  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  a  discipline  by 
which  the  true  servant  of  Jehovah  is  trained  and  edu- 
cated for  his  unique  mission.  The  thought  of  the 
priestly  or  mediatorial  office  of  God's  people  comes  to 

1  Cp.  Cornill,  Der  Israelitische  Prophetismus,  pp.  77  foil. ;   Montefiore, 
Hibbert  Lectures,  pp.  171  foil. 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE        311 

the  front;  and,  according  to  a  characteristic  tendency  of 
the  Hebrew  mind,  we  find  a  disposition  to  individualize 
the  nation,  and  to  bring  to  a  focus  the  characteristic 
thought  of  the  age  in  '  the  conception  of  an  individual 
righteous  man  who  as  the  accepted  representative  of 
his  nation  must  needs  make  atonement  by  suffering 
for  its  sins,  and  so  become  a  prevailing  intercessor 
with  God.  In  this  ideal  servant  of  Jehovah  are 
concentrated  the  scattered  characteristics  of  God's 
faithful :  their  spirit  of  dependence,  their  patient  devo- 
tion, their  unswerving  faithfulness  in  the  fulfilment  of 
vocation,  their  brave  constancy  under  trial,  their  meek 
acceptance  of  death  V  In  the  fifty-third  chapter  of 
Isaiah  prophecy  seems  to  rise  to  this  culminating 
point.  It  delineates  the  figure  of  one  who  by  pouring 
out  his  soul  unto  death  can  indeed  make  atonement 
for  the  transgressions  of  his  people,  and  who  passes 
through  the  gate  of  death  to  a  new  and  glorious  life 
of  fruitfulness  and  power.  '  This  wonderful  figure 
combines  in  itself,'  says  Schultz,  'the  figure  of  the 
Priest  who  offers  Himself  up  as  a  sacrifice  for  the 
world,  the  figure  of  the  Prophet  who  by  His  know- 
ledge of  God  brings  justification,  and  the  figure  of 
the  King  who,  transfigured  and  blessed,  enjoys  the 
fruits  of  His  sufferings  2.' 

During  the  exile,  then,  the  hope  of  Israel  was 
finally  transferred  from  the  theocratic  king  to  the 
servant  of  Jehovah,  the  faithful  remnant  which  still 
represented  the  people  of  God.  Conscious  as  they 
were  of  possessing  the  true  knowledge  of  God,  and 
of  vocation  to  His  service,  the  faithful  patiently 
awaited  the  issue  of  the  conflict  between  the  true 
religion  and  the  idolatries  of  heathenism.  The  sublime 
prophet  of  the  exile  in  fact  developes  the  thought  of 
the  mediatorial  functions  of  God's  people  which  the 
very  circumstances  of  the  exile  suggested. 

In    his    pages    the    universalist    ideas    of    earlier 

1  Repeated  from  The  Doctrine  of  the  Incarnation,  vol.  i.  p.  55. 

2  Schultz,  vol.  ii.  p.  435. 


312         PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

prophecy  become  deepened  and  spiritualized.  The 
Israel  which  he  represents  recognizes  its  prophetic 
and  priestly  function,  its  vocation  to  be  a  light  to  the 
Gentiles^.  It  learns  that  the  purpose  of  grace  mani- 
fested in  Israel's  election  embraces  the  entire  family 
of  mankind.  And  in  accordance  with  these  ideas, 
prophecy  henceforth  displays  a  new  sense  of  the 
dignity  of  priesthood  and  its  functions.  Already  in 
his  ideal  sketch  of  the  age  of  restoration,  Ezekiel 
assigns  special  prominence  to  the  Aaronic  priesthood. 
The  priests  are  to  be  the  teachers  and  judges  of  the 
future,  and  are  to  represent  in  their  own  persons 
the  entire  consecration  of  Israel  to  Jehovah  2.  In 
the  prophecy  of  Zechariah,  Joshua  the  high-priest 
stands  on  a  level  with  Zerubbabel  the  theocratic 
prince.  There  is  a  juxtaposition  of  the  offices  of  priest 
and  king  implied  in  the  coronation  of  Joshua  3.  The 
high-priest  is  not  as  yet  identified  with  the  prince  ; 
what  Zechariah's  prophecy  signifies  is  the  perfect 
harmony  and  unity  of  two  elements  indispensable  in 
the  newly-established  settlement.  The  counsel  of  peace, 
he  says,  sho,ll  be  between  them  both.  Only  at  a  more 
advanced  stage,  it  would  seem,  did  prophecy  rise  to 
the  thought  of  a  monarch  who  as  representative  of 
the  priestly  nation  should  himself  hold  the  dignity 
of  the  priesthood,  being  made  by  the  oath  of  Jehovah 
a  priest  for  ever  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek^.  In 
Psalm  ex  is  to  be  found  the  combination  of  two 
separate  lines  of  prediction. 

5.  Corresponding  to  the  conception  of  a  people  of 
God  charged  with  a  spiritual  mission  to  mankind  is 
that  of  a  new  covenant — a  covenant  of  which  grace, 
not  law,  is  the  outstanding  characteristic.  It  was 
a  hope  to  which  Jeremiah  had  already  given  touching 
expression 5.  In  his  days  it  must  have  seemed  the 

1  Isa.  xlix.  6.  2  Ezek.  xliv.  10-28;  xlviii.  n,  &c. 

3  Zech.  vi.  1 1-14.     Cp.  Schultz,  ii.  423. 

4  Ps.  ex.     See  a  note  in  Riehm,  ATI.  Theologie,  p.  257. 
6  Jer.  xxxi.  31  foil. 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE         313 

only  hope  that  remained  for  an  apostate  Israel.  In 
effect  Jeremiah  appears  to  have  abandoned  the 
expectation  of  any  response  to  his  warnings  and 
denunciations.  He  renounces  the  nation  which  is 
hastening  headlong  to  its  ruin,  and  apparently  devotes 
himself  to  preparing  the  way  for  a  new  people  that 
should  emerge  from  the  ashes  of  the  old l.  The 
hope  of  a  new  covenant  was  indeed  the  stay  of 
the  faithful  under  continual  disillusionment.  The  ex- 
perience of  ages  is  embodied  in  the  pregnant  verdict 
of  Jeremiah  on  the  final  result  of  the  Mosaic  dispensa- 
tion :  which  my  covenant  they  brake,  although  I  was  an 
husband  unto  them,  saith  the  Lord*.  Jehovah  had 
purposed  to  make  Israel  a  kingdom  of  priests  and  an 
holy  nation,  but  the  only  hope  of  the  ideal  being 
realized  lay  in  the  free  action  of  Jehovah's  grace.  The 
old  covenant  was  marked  by  inherent  deficiency :  it 
was  powerless  to  secure  the  obedience  it  enjoined, 
it  was  burdensome  as  a  law  of  positive  precepts  and 
ordinances  ;  in  relation  to  the  removal  of  sin  it  was 
hopelessly  ineffective.  Prophecy  therefore  recognized 
that  the  old  covenant  was  waxing  old  and  ready  to 
vanish  away 3.  It  looked  to  the  future  for  a  new 
covenant  of  grace,  under  which  not  merely  the  outward 
life,  but  the  heart  of  Israel,  should  be  renewed  unto 
holiness.  In  the  Messianic  age  the  law  of  Jehovah 
should  be  written  in  the  heart ;  each  soul  should  have 
immediate  knowledge  of  God  and  unrestricted  access 
to  Him  ;  above  all,  the  clinging  burden  of  sin  and 
defilement  should  be  finally  removed.  For  I  will 
forgive  their  iniquity,  and  I  will  remember  their  sins 
no  more.  Thus  it  was  at  length  realized  that  the 
Messiah  was  not  destined  to  fulfil  the  aspirations 
of  national  ambition,  but  to  satisfy  the  yearnings  of 
spiritual  need  :  to  preach  good  tidings  unto  the  meek, 
to  bind  up  the  broken-hearted,  to  proclaim  liberty  to  the 

1  Darmesteter,  p.  67.  2  Jer.  xxxi.  32.     Cp.  Heb.  viii.  9. 

3  Heb.  viii.  13. 


314        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them  that  are 
bound^. 

In  the  prophecies  of  Ezekiel  we  find  a  continuation 
of  Jeremiah's  teaching.  One  effect  of  the  exile  on  the 
faithful  was  doubtless  a  deeper  consciousness  of  sin, 
and  a  sense  that  the  mere  collective  and  national 
access  to  God  provided  for  in  the  institutions  of  pre- 
exilic  worship  was  incapable  of  satisfying  the  thirst  of 
the  individual  soul  for  salvation 2.  Ezekiel  repeats 
and  emphasizes  Jeremiah's  doctrine  concerning  indivi- 
dual responsibility ;  but  he  goes  further  and  points  to 
the  prospect  of  an  inward  renewal  wrought  by  the 
power  of  Jehovah's  spirit.  /  will  sprinkle  clean  water 
upon  you,  and  ye  shall  be  clean  :  from  allyour  filthiness, 
and  from  all  your  idols,  will  I  cleanse  yo2i.  A  new 
heart  also  will  I  give  you,  and  a  new  spirit  will  I  put 
within  you  :  and  I  will  take  away  the  stony  heart  out 
of  your  flesh,  and  I  will  give  you  an  heart  of  flesh 3. 
Thus  the  prophets  who  had  been,  to  quote  Well- 
hausen's  striking  expression,  '  the  spiritual  destroyers 
of  old  Israel  V  became  the  pioneers  of  a  new  era. 
They  hold  out  the  prospect  of  a  nationality  which  has 
renewed  its  youth ;  they  look  for  a  new  creation. 
Behold,  1  create  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth  ;  and  the 
former  shall  not  be  remembered,  nor  come  into  mind. 
But  be  ye  glad  and  rejoice  for  ever  in  that  which  / 
create;  for ,  behold,  I  create  Jerusalem  a  rejoicing,  and  her 
people  a  joy  5. 

6.  The  post-exilic  prophets  gather  up  the  substance 
of  former  predictions,  their  aim  being  to  deepen  those 
conceptions  respecting  the  Messiah  and  his  work 
which  were  already  current.  In  Haggaiand  Zechariah 
the  idea  of  Israel's  spiritual  mission  to  the  world 
reappears,  but  in  a  form  moulded  by  the  special 
circumstances  of  their  time — the  rebuilding  of  the 
temple  and  the  reorganization  of  worship  on  the 
levitical  pattern.  The  interest  of  prophecy  centres 

1   Isa.  Ixi.  i.  2  Riehm,  ,477.  Theologie,  p.  36. 

3  Ezek.  xxxvi.  25  foil.  4  Sketch,  &c.  p.  122.  5  Isa.lxv.  17,  18. 


vi]          PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE        315 

in  the  temple  as  at  no  previous  period  in  history. 
Haggai,  for  example,  points  to  a  new  glory  of  the 
national  sanctuary  as  the  appointed  centre  of  divine 
self-manifestation  in  the  future.  The  sudden  coming 
of  Jehovah  to  His  temple  will  usher  in  the  age  of 
Messianic  blessings 1.  Thither  the  desirable  things 
of  all  nations  shall  be  brought ;  there  the  deepest 
yearnings  of  man's  heart  shall  be  finally  satisfied  :  In 
this  place  will  I  give  peace,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts. 
Nearly  a  century  later  the  same  thought  reappears  in 
Malachi  in  a  somewhat  modified  shape  characteristic 
of  his  time.  Jehovah  will  manifest  Himself  through 
the  mediation  of  an  angel,  the  messenger  of  His 
covenant,  and  instrument  of  His  righteous  judgment. 
To  Malachi,  as  to  Haggai,  the  temple  is  the  destined 
scene  of  the  future  theophany ;  and  the  main  object 
of  the  divine  judgment  is  to  purify  the  sons  of  Levi, 
that  there  may  once  more  be  a  faithful  priesthood 
in  Israel,  and  a  pure  offering  acceptable  to  God 2. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  moral  and  ethical  tone  of 
prophecy,  and  its  insistence  on  the  divine  requirement 
as  a  condition  of  covenant  communion,  is  still  dominant 
in  the  prophets  of  the  restoration.  In  Zechariah 
especially  we  find  *  the  two  correlative  aspects  of 
spiritual  reformation '  enforced  :  as  '  the  bounden  duty 
of  man,  and  as  the  promised  gift  of  God  V 

It  is  difficult  to  trace  the  process  by  which  it  came 
about,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  hopes  of 
later  Judaism  are  of  a  narrower  and  more  nationalistic 
cast  than  those  of  the  exilic  period.  In  fact,  as  Pro- 
fessor Pfleiderer  remarks,  in  some  respects  '  the  legal 
religion  of  the  synagogue  shows  a  retrogression  from 
the  lofty  idealism  of  the  prophets  V  The  universalist 

1  Hag.  ii.  7-9 ;  Zech.  ix.  9  foil.     It  is  noticeable  that  for  a  brief  space 
the  prince  of  David's  house,  which  in  the  person  of  Zerubbabel  emerged 
from  its  obscurity,  figures  once  more  in  the  pages  of  prophecy.    See  Zech. 
iii.  8  ;  cp.  Jer.  xxiii.  5. 

2  Mai.  iii.  1-5,  16  foil. 

3  See  Zech.  iii.  4  ;  v.  5-11 ;  viii.  16,  17.   Cp.  Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures, 
vol.  ii.  p.  300. 

4  Gifford  Lectures,  vol.  ii.  p.  51. 


316        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

hopes  of  the  later  Isaiah  fall  into  the  background,  and 
give  way  before  the  ambitions  of  Jewish  particularism. 
The  spirit  of  rigid  exclusiveness  fostered  by  the 
levitical  Law  displayed  itself  in  an  attitude  of  hatred 
and  contempt  towards  the  heathen  world.  Cornill  ob- 
serves that  the  stage  was  a  necessary  one  in  Israel's 
development,  for  the  life  and  death  struggle  with 
Hellenism  was  yet  to  come  1.  The  observance  of  the 
Law,  which  sharply  separated  Israel  from  the  heathen 
world,  formed  a  kind  of  defensive  armour,  which  the 
polished  shafts  of  paganism  could  neither  break  nor 
penetrate.  Judaism  was  a  hard  shell  under  which  the 
kernel  of  true  religion  was  preserved  and  transmitted 
unimpaired.  Nevertheless,  the  effect  of  this  period 
on  prophecy  was  not  altogether  happy.  The  book 
of  Joel  seems  to  represent  the  temper  of  the  new 
Judaism.  Its  tone  is  strongly  nationalistic;  it  regards 
the  heathen  as  objects  only  of  vengeance,  not  of  grace  ; 
it  reflects  the  confidence  of  the  Jew  that  Israel  is 
a  righteous  people  and  the  object  of  a  divine  favour, 
which  is  sufficiently  secured  by  the  care  bestowed  on 
the  temple  cultus*.  In  fact,  it  has  been  thought, 
though  the  point  is  necessarily  uncertain,  that  in  the 
book  of  Joel  we  pass  from  the  older  type  of  prophecy 
to  the  class  of  apocalyptic  literature,  which  has  pecu- 
liarities and  merits  of  its  own,  but  cannot  be  fairly 
judged  by  the  same  standard  as  earlier  prophetic 
writings.  While  prophecy  is  the  mature  fruit  of 
ancient  Israel's  religion,  apocalyptic  writings  are  the 
characteristic  product  of  Judaism.  They  bear  witness, 
like  the  belief  in  the  Bath  Qol,  to  the  consciousness 
that  Jehovah  had  ceased  to  speak  immediately  to 
H  is  people  3. 

1  Der  Israelitische  Prophetismus ,  p.  162. 

2  Ibid.  p.  163.     The   book  of  Obadiah   seems   to   display  a   similar 
tendency. 

3  On  the  distinctive  characteristics  of  the  apocalyptic  literature  see 
Riehm,  A  77.  Theologie,  p.  389  ;  Drummond,  The  Jewish  Messiah,  Introd. ; 
Westcott,  art. '  Daniel '  in  Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible.    The  last  writer 
points  out  that  the  exile  '  supplied  the  outward  training  and  the  inward 
necessity  for  this  last  form  of  divine  teaching ;   and  the  prophetic  visions 


vi]         PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE        317 

The  apocalyptic  literature,  in  fact,  arose  as  the 
result  of  that  passionate  aversion  to  heathenism  and 
grief  at  its  apparent  triumph  which  came  to  a  head  in 
the  Maccabaean  -struggle.  The  unfulfilled  ideals  of 
prophecy  were  studied  afresh  with  the  hope  of  finding 
a  clue  to  the  past  course  of  history  and  the  future 
prospects  of  the  nation.  With  the  peculiarities,  how- 
ever, of  this  literature  we  are  not  specially  concerned. 
It  is  only  necessary  to  remember  that  it  also  was 
used  as  a  vehicle  of  divine  teaching.  Its  contribution 
to  the  Messianic  idea  was,  comparatively  speaking, 
indirect.  The  apocalyptic  writers  occupied  them- 
selves with  the  prospects  of  the  divine  kingdom  in  its 
relation  to  the  empires  of  this  world,  rather  than  with 
the  personal  glories  of  the  promised  Saviour.  Conse- 
quently, their  works  reflect  in  their  comparative  silence 
as  to  a  personal  Messiah,  the  condition  of  the  nation 
when  it  had  lost  its  independence  and  had  passed 
under  the  rule  of  a  priestly  hierarchy.  In  the  extra- 
canonical  literature  the  Messianic  king  was  generally 
depicted  as  a  hero  of  whom  it  was  confidently 
expected  that  he  would  re-establish  Israel's  national 
independence  and  inaugurate  a  world-wide  dominion  ; 
but  in  regard  to  details  old  ideas  and  new  were 
strangely  intermingled.  The  rule  of  righteousness 
and  peace  was  to  involve  '  the  full  triumph  of  the  law 
and  the  law's  religion1.'  The  universal  kingdom  of 
Messiah  was  destined  to  manifest  the  peculiar  favour 
with  God  enjoyed  by  Israel. 

Perhaps  the  most  significant  feature  in  later  canonical 
prophecy  is  the  stress  laid  on  Messiah's  humanity. 
The  book  of  Daniel  speaks  of  one  like  unto  a  son  of 
man 2,  an  expression  which  in  its  original  context 

of  Ezekiel  form  the  connecting  link  between  the  characteristic  types  of 
revelation  and  prophecy.'  On  the  book  of  Joel  see  Hunter,  After  the 
Exile,  part  i.  ch.  xii.  Its  apocalyptic  character  is  noticed  by  Cornill, 
Einleitung  in  das  A.T.  p.  182. 

1  See  Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures,  No.  viii. 

2  Dan.  vii.  13.      On  the  probable  date  and  origin  of  Daniel  see  Cornill, 
pp.  1 76  foil.     On  the  influence  of  the  book  see  Riehm,  ATI.  Theologie, 
p.  389. 


3i8        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT, 

seems  to  describe  the  characteristics  of  the  ideal  king- 
dom of  the  saints  which  is  destined  to  supersede  the 
heathen  empires  founded  on  brute  violence  and 
material  force.  It  was  apparently  in  a  later  apocry- 
phal work — the  book  of  Enoch — that  the  title  was 
first  restricted  to  a  personal  Messiah,  but  the  passage 
in  Daniel  may  be  regarded  as  marking  a  new  stage  in 
the  growth  of  the  Messianic  expectation l.  Apart 
from  this  isolated  expression,  the  figure  of  the  anointed 
prince*  in  the  book  of  Daniel  is  highly  significant. 
The  Messiah  is  numbered  with  the  saints  of  the  most 
high  as  their  head  and  representative,  exercising  the 
universal  dominion  bestowed  on  him  as  his  rightful 
heritage  by  Jehovah  Himself.  The  conception  of 
a  specially  close  relationship  between  the  Messiah  and 
Jehovah  is  also  found  in  the  later  chapters  of  Zechariah, 
which  depict  the  expected  Saviour  as  the  rejected 
shepherd  of  his  people,  as  tint  fellow  of  Jehovah,  and 
as  one  in  whom  Jehovah  Himself  is  pierced  3. 

There  is  no  need  to  extend  our  survey  of  Messianic 
prediction  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Old  Testament, 
since  the  permanent  elements  that  contributed  to  the 
conception  of  Messiah  are  already  contained  in  the 
Hebrew  Canon  itself.  The  subsequent  period  is  of 
great  importance  in  so  far  as  it  throws  light  on  the 
expectations  of  our  Lord's  own  contemporaries  ;  but 
this  subject  lies  outside  the  range  of  our  inquiry 4. 
Accordingly,  it  only  remains  to  point  out  briefly  how 
the  work  of  Christ,  the  history  of  His  Church,  and 
the  experience  of  His  saints  unfold  and  develope  the 
significance  of  those  great  principles  which  prophecy 
had  learned  to  trace  in  Israel's  history. 

For  we  have  seen  that  the  prophetic  visions  of  the 

1  See  Stanton,  op.  tit.  p.  no ;  Drummond,  op.  tit.  bk.  ii.  ch.  7. 

2  Dan.  ix.  25,  26. 

3  Zech.  xi.  15  foil.;  xiii.  1-9;  xii.  10.     On  the  date  of  Zech.  ix-xiv  see 
Cornill,  p.  166. 

4  See  Schiirer,  The  Jewish  People  in  the  time  of  Christ  (Eng.  Tr.),  §  29  ; 
Westcott,  Introd.  to  the  Study  of  the  Gospels,  pp.  94  foil. ;  Stanton,  op.  at. 
pp.  in  foil. 


vi]         PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE         319 

future  were  for  the  most  part  inspired  by  reflection 
on  the  history  of  the  past.  The  Messianic  hope  had 
its  roots  in  the  faith  that  Israel  had  been  originally 
brought  into  a  special  relationship  to  Jehovah.  The 
expectation  even  of  a  personal  Redeemer  was  coloured 
by  vague  anticipations  that  Israel  itself  would  ulti- 
mately realize  the  ideal  foreshadowed  in  the  original 
covenant  established  with  its  ancestors.  The  personal 
advent  and  work  of  the  true  Messiah  only  inaugurated 
the  fulfilment  of  the  earliest  and  most  widespread 
hopes  of  the  nation  1.  Thus  the  idea  of  salvation  as 
a  work  of  divine  grace  visiting  the  afflicted,  or  as  a 
victory  by  which  a  captivity  was  carried  captive,  had 
been  visibly  illustrated  in  the  exodus  from  Egypt ; 
the  idea  of  a  kingdom  of  God  had  its  foundations  laid 
in  the  polity  organized,  at  least  in  rudimentary  form, 
by  Moses,  and  was  further  developed  and  consolidated 
by  the  institution  of  the  Hebrew  monarchy;  the  con- 
ception of  a  people  of  God  charged  with  a  priestly 
mission  to  mankind  had  probably  never  been  entirely 
absent  from  the  highest  spiritual  thought  of  the  people. 
The  place,  meaning,  and  function  of  suffering  had  from 
the  first  been  suggested  by  the  recorded  experience  of 
righteous  men  from  the  dawn  of  history :  Abel  had 
been  slain  by  Cain  ;  Isaac  had  been  laid  on  the  altar  of 
sacrifice  ;  Jacob  had  been  a  wanderer  ready  to  perish  ; 
Joseph  had  been  rejected  by  his  brethren  and  the  iron 
entered  into  his  soul  ere  he  could  become  the  saviour 
of  his  kindred  and  of  Egypt ;  Moses  had  been  a  fugitive 
and  exile  before  he  was  raised  up  to  be  a  captain  of 
salvation  over  Jehovah's  people  and  to  fill  the  desert 
with  songs  of  deliverance ;  David  had  been  a  per- 
secuted outlaw  before  he  became  the  light  of  Israel. 
Yes ;  '  the  heralds  of  salvation,  the  bearers  of  God's 
mercy,  have  to  pass  through  suffering  and  death 
before  they  win  salvation  for  themselves  and  others  V 
So  in  later  days  each  of  the  goodly  fellowship  of  the 
prophets  was  in  his  measure  a  man  of  sorrows  and 

1  Cp.  Stanton,  op.  cit.  pp.  99,  135.  2  Schultz,  vol.  ii.  p.  353. 


320        PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE    [LECT. 

acquainted  with  grief.  Finally,  the  remnant  of  Israel 
in  exile  recognized  itself  as  the  suffering-  servant  of 
Jehovah  prepared  to  fulfil  its  unique  mission  by  meek 
endurance  of  affliction.  Thus  prophecy  is  faith's 
interpretation  of  the  past ;  in  the  temporary  conditions 
and  circumstances  of  Israel's  history  lay  concealed 
eternal  thoughts  of  God,  which  in  Jesus  Christ  were 
to  receive  their  perfect  elucidation1.  In  His  passion, 
death,  resurrection  and  exaltation  to  the  right  hand 
of  God,  St.  John  contemplates  the  supreme  triumph 
which  the  seed  of  the  woman  was  from  the  first 
destined  to  achieve2 ;  and  the  writer  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews  points  to  Him  as  one  in  whom  the 
destiny  of  our  race  is  potentially  accomplished.  Thou 
hast  put  all  things  under  his  feet.  Such  is  the  promise ; 
now  however  we  see  not  yet  all  things  put  ^cnder  him. 
But  we  see  Jesus.  In  the  triumph  of  the  ascension 
man  may  behold  a  pledge  of  the  fulfilment  of  his  own 
appointed  destiny. 

Again,  in  the  moral  reign  of  Jesus  Christ  over  the 
hearts  of  the  faithful  we  recognize  the  transfigured 
kingdom  of  David ;  we  see  the  spiritual  counterpart 
of  those  great  ideas  which  the  age  of  Solomon  fore- 
shadowed— a  world-wide  empire  over  the  souls  of  men 
and  a  universal  religion — a  catholic  Church  and  a 
catholic  Creed.  In  the  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon 
society  and  individual  men,  consecrating  the  peculiar 
endowments  and  gifts  of  each  to  divine  uses,  we 
welcome  the  fulfilment  of  prophetic  visions  of  a 
righteous  people  of  Jehovah  sprinkled  with  clean 
water,  and  drawing  near  to  God  in  acceptable  service. 
Finally,  in  the  overthrow  of  Israel's  enemies  Chris- 
tian faith  sees  the  removal  from  the  true  kingdom  of 
God  of  all  things  that  offend,  and  them  which  do 


1  There  is  a  valuable  chapter  on  *  the  use  of  the  Old  Testament  in  the 
early  Church '  in  Mr.  Stanton's  Jewish  and  Christian  Messiah,  with  an 
exhaustive  table  showing  the  Messianic  use  of  the  Old  Testament  in  the 
New  Testament. 

2  Rev.  xii ;  cp.  Heb.  ii.  6  foil. 


vi]         PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE         321 

iniquity ;  and  the  forthshining  of  the  righteous  as  the 
sun  in  the  kingdom  of  their  Father  l. 

Thus  the  person,  the  work,  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  explains  the  many-sided  imagery  of  the  Old 
Testament;  and  if  we  believe  that  the  Incarnation  is 
at  once  the  plainest  of  facts  and  the  deepest  of 
mysteries,  we  shall  feel  that  no  study  of  Hebrew 
prophecy  can  be  too  painstaking  or  minute  ;  inasmuch 
as  it  embodies  the  thoughts  of  God — those  thoughts 
of  which  the  Psalmist  says,  How  precious  are  thy 
thoughts  unto  me,  O  God !  how  great  is  the  sum  of 
them  !  If  I  should  count  them,  they  are  more  in  number 
than  the  sand.  Many,  O  Lord  my  God,  are  thy  wonder  - 
fid  works  which  thou  hast  done,  and  thy  thoughts  which 
are  to  iis-ivard ;  they  cannot  be  reckoned  up  in  order  imto 
thee:  if  I  would  declare  and  speak  of  them  they  are 
more  than  can  be  numbered'2'. 

Prophecy  has  been  defined  as  *  the  expression  of  an 
ideal  truth  which,  just  because  it  contains  an  eternal 
law  of  the  order  of  the  world,  also  finds  ever  new 
fulfilment  at  all  times  3.'  In  it  we  touch  what  is  deepest 
and  most  vital  in  religion.  Prophecy  is  not  merely 
the  judgment  of  sagacious  men  on  the  events  of  their 
own  day,  or  on  the  state  of  the  society  in  which  they 
were  called  to  move  and  act ;  it  is  an  inspired  com- 
mentary on  the  phenomena  of  universal  history.  Its 
idealism  is  the  result  of  God-given  insight  into  the 
true  conditions  of  human  welfare,  and  into  that  true 
order  of  the  universe  which  has  been  obscured  and 
perverted  by  human  folly,  selfishness,  and  crime.  The 
optimism  of  the  prophets,  says  Dr.  Bruce,  '  does  not 
consist  in  shutting  the  eyes  to  the  evil  that  is  in  the 
world.  On  the  contrary,  it  knows  how  to  take  the  evil 
into  the  ideal  as  one  of  its  constitutive  elements,  and 
transmute  it  into  the  highest  good  V  It  is  their  sense 
of  a  power  pervading  human  history  and 

1  Matt.  xiii.  41,  43.  2  Ps.  cxxxix.  17  foil. ;  xl.  5. 

8  Pfleiderer,  Gifford  Lectures,  vol.  ii.  p.  42. 
4  Bruce,  Apologetics,  p.  256. 

Y 


322         PROPHECY  AND   THE  MESSIANIC  HOPE 
1  From  seeming  evil  still  educing  good ' 

that  makes  the  study  of  the  prophets  at  once  so 
necessary  and  so  fruitful.  In  reading  their  books  we 
find  ourselves  fired  by  the  same  passion  of  hope, 
illuminated  and  cheered  by  the  same  splendid  visions. 
Thus  the  study  of  the  Old  Testament  may  most 
appropriately  begin  with  the  prophets,  not  only  because 
the  date  of  their  activity  and  the  authenticity  of  their 
works  are  in  the  main  certain  and  undisputed,  but  also 
because  their  writings  will  give  us  the  true  point  of 
view  from  which  to  approach  the  entire  history  and 
institutions  of  Israel.  They  will  educate  our  sense  of 
proportion  in  dealing  with  the  narrative  and  legislative 
parts  of  the  Old  Testament.  They  will  imbue  us 
with  a  consciousness  of  the  gravity  of  the  problems 
which  confront  society  at  the  present  day.  They  will 
develope  our  insight  into  those  needs  and  aspirations 
of  human  nature  which  the  religion  of  the  Incar- 
nation was  destined  to  satisfy ;  and,  finally,  they  will 
awaken  and  stimulate  in  us  that  which  is  the  highest 
power  for  good  in  human  life — the  passion  for  righteous- 
ness, the  love  of  man,  the  thirst  for  God. 


LECTURE  VII 

O  God,  thou  art  my  God. — Ps.  Ixiii.  I. 

THE  age  of  the  prophets  had  contributed  to  the 
religion  of  Israel  all  that  was  most  essential  to  its 
further  development.  ,  We  may  notice  two  points 
particularly  in  which  the  tendencies  of  the  post-exilic 
period  were  already  foreshadowed  before  the  return 

jj  from  Babylon.  First,  prophecy  had  risen  to  the 
conception  of  a  universal  religion.  The  vision  of  the 
Messianic  age,  in  proportion  as  it  became  spiritualized, 
enlarged  its  range.  The  great  prophet  of  the  exile 
represents  the  heathen  world  as  waiting  expectantly 
for  the  salvation  of  God.  Israel  is  to  be  the  herald 
of  redemption  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  the 
centre  of  a  world  converted  to  the  service  of  Jehovah. 

7  Secondly,  the  conception  of  an  individualized  re- 
ligion had  already  appeared.  This  can  be  traced 
back  to  the  prophet  Jeremiah,  whose  position  of 
peculiar  isolation  and  dependence  upon  God  led 
him  to  reflect  particularly  on  the  relation  of  the 
individual  to  God.  His  prolonged  experience  of 
the  supporting  power  of  divine  grace  under  the 
pressure  of  overwhelming  difficulties  constituted  him 
a  link  between  an  old  and  a  new  state  of  things.  By 
his  own  personal  fidelity  to  God,  he  rescued  as  it 
were  the  true  religion  which  in  those  disastrous  times 
was  in  danger  of  perishing  outright.  It  is  even 
possible  that  the  inspired  picture  drawn  by  the  exilic 
prophet  of  the  faithful  servant  of  Jehovah  making 

Y2 


324  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

atonement  and  intercession  on  behalf  of  his  people 
was  suggested  by  the  memory  of  Jeremiah's  labours 
and  sufferings  l.  In  his  own  inner  life  the  prophet 
realized  the  efficacy  of  repentance,  the  need  of  personal 
conversion  2,  the  yearning  for  newness  of  heart.  And 
in  Jeremiah's  prophecy  of  the  new  covenant  with 
Israel,  which  is  to  be  the  characteristic  blessing  of  the 
Messianic  age,  we  have  perhaps  the  first  suggestion 
of  a  salvation  not  merely  national  but  personal.  They 
shall  all  know  me,  from  the  least  of  them  ^mto  the 
greatest  of  them,  saith  the  Lord2'.  The  Law  was  one 
day  to  be  written,  not  on  tables  of  stone,  but  on  human 
hearts.  It  was  the  task  of  Ezekiel  to  deepen  the 
impression  made  by  his  predecessor,  to  educate  in 
the  faithful  a  consciousness  of  personal  accountability 
for  sin,  and  to  proclaim  the  divine  promise  of  a  time 
when  consciences  should  be  cleansed  and  hearts 
renewed  by  the  gift  of  the  Spirit.  These  two  lines  of 
prediction  are  distinct,  and  yet  they  seem  to  be  mutually 
connected.  A  spiritual  religion  can  no  longer  be  a 
merely  national  religion ;  the  law  that  can  be  written 
on  the  single  human  heart  is  a  law  for  mankind.  On 
the  sense  of  individual  relationship  to  God  a  world- 
religion  can  be  founded,  for  God  is  one  and  His 
Spirit  one.  The  thought  underlies  St.  Paul's  striking 
argument  in  the  third  chapter  of  Romans  :  Is  he  the 
God  of  the  Jews  only  f  is  he  not  also  of  the  Gentiles  f 
Yes,  of  the  Gentiles  also,  seeing  it  is  one  God,  which  shall 
justify  the  circumcision  by  faith,  and  uncircumcision 
thro^lgh  faith 4. 

Now  in  the  period  that  followed  the  exile  these 
characteristic  products  of  prophetic  thought  —  the 
idea  of  universal  religion,  and  that  of  personal 
salvation — were  destined  to  be  developed,  but  rather 
through  the  stress  of  the  circumstances  in  which 

1  Meinhold,  Jesus  und  das  A,  T.  p.  105.      Cp.  Montefiore,  Hibbert 
Lectures,  p.  218. 

2  Jer.  xvii.  14;  xxxi.  18. 

3  Jer.  xxxi.  34 ;  Ezek.  xxxvi.  26. 

*  Rom.  iii.  29,  30.     Cp.  Pfleiderer,  Gifford  Lectures,  vol.  ii.  pp.  50,  51. 


vn]  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  325 

Judaism  found  itself  placed,  than  through  any  con- 
scious or  deliberate  effort  to  realize  the  spiritual  hopes 
of  prophecy.  At  first  sight  indeed  the  whole  epoch 
wears  a  retrogressive  aspect :  religion  becomes  formal 
and  legalistic,  while  the  wider  Messianic  ideals  give 
way  before  a  temper  of  narrow  particularism.  Never- 
theless, looking  back  upon  the  period,  we  are  able 
to  discern  the  providential  work  of  God  going  on 
under  the  unpromising  exterior  features  of  the  history. 
The  dispersion  of  the  Jews  brought  them  into  contact 
with  the  culture  and  thought  of  heathendom,  not 
without  adding  to  tfreir  religion  elements  of  expan- 
siveness  which  the  rigid  legal  discipline  of  Palestinian 
Judaism  tended  to  repress.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
troubled  conditions  under  which  Jewish  nationality 
struggled  to  maintain  its  independence  led  to  a  certain 
religious  concentration  ;  sorrow  and  misfortune  became 
to  the  Jew  a  school  of  the  heart. 

Let  us  pause  to  consider  some  of  the  circumstances 
which  gave  an  impulse  to  the  development  of  personal 
religion.  First,  we  notice  the  depression  and  sense  of 
disappointment  which  quickly  followed  the  restoration. 
The  returned  exiles,  their  ears  still  ringing  with  the 
uplifting  music  of  the  voice  which  bade  them  depart 
in  triumph  from  the  land  of  captivity,  and  come  with 
sinking  ^mto  Zion,  and  with  everlasting  joy  iipon  their 
head1,  found  themselves  in  their  ancient  home — in 
a  city  ruined,  comfortless,  unprotected,  and  surrounded 
by  alien  or  hostile  tribes.  The  community  itself  was 
only  a  miserable  remnant  of  a  once  powerful  nation. 
Hopes  of  revival  and  recovery  seemed  to  have  been 
blasted  at  their  birth 2.  The  foundations  of  the 
temple  were  laid,  but  the  opposition  of  the  Samaritans, 
combined  with  the  despondent  apathy  of  the  exiles, 

1  See  Isa.  li.  n  ;  lii.  7  foil. ;  Iv.  12,  £c. 

2  Stanton,  The  Jewish  and  the  Christian  Messiah,  p.  97,  observes  :  *  It 
has  come  to  be  very  generally  recognized  that  illusion  followed  by  the 
discipline  of  experience  and  disappointment  played  no  unimportant  part 
in  the  formation  and  definition  of  the  clearest  Messianic  hope  of  Israel.' 
See  Hunter,  After  the  Exile,  part  i.  chap,  v, '  Among  the  Ruins.' 


326  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

led  to  a  prolonged  cessation  of  the  work.  Nor  were 
the  prospects  of  the  community  materially  improved 
even  at  a  later  time,  when  the  temple  had  been 
completed  and  the  national  worship  organized  on  the 
leyitical  system.  Jehovah's  promises  seemed  to  have 
come  to  nought.  Things  remained  as  before.  In  the 
place  of  Babylon,  the  heathen  power  of  Persia  had 
brought  Israel  under  an  oppressive  yoke.  Moreover, 
the  restored  worship  of  the  temple  provided  no 
effective  compensation  for  the  miseries  of  the  time. 
The  book  of  Malachi  bears  witness  to  the  prevailing 
temper  of  the  prophet's  contemporaries.  Evidently 
the  requirements  of  Jehovah's  service  were  regarded 
as  an  oppressive  and  costly  burden.  The  strict  dis- 
cipline of  the  Law  provoked  a  spirit  of  moroseness, 
of  religious  indifference,  and  even  of  resentment  against 
God l.  The  community  as  a  whole,  and  even  the 
priesthood,  had  apparently  sunk  into  listless  apathy 
and  heartless  formalism. 

Meanwhile,  the  ideal  which  reformers  like  Ezra 
and  Nehemiah  set  before  themselves  was  that  of 
a  holy  community,  separated  by  elaborate  restrictions 
from  the  pollutions  of  heathendom,  and  from  the 
semi-paganism  of  the  '  people  of  the  land/  In  pur- 
suance of  this  ideal  even  the  habits  and  incidents 
of  daily  life  were  brought  under  the  discipline  of  an 
all-embracing  system,  the  result  of  which  was  a 
gradual  change  in  men's  moral  conceptions.  The 
righteousness  which  the  prophets  had  preached  as 
Jehovah's  supreme  requirement  came  to  be  identified 
with  an  anxious  and  scrupulous  legalism,  the  cul- 
minating point  of  which  was  eventually  reached  in 
Pharisaism. 

The  tendency  to  externalism  in  religion  manifested 
itself  most  conspicuously  in  the  zeal  expended  upon 
the  worship  of  the  national  sanctuary.  The  restriction 
of  the  levitical  cultus  to  the  temple  tended  to  make 

1  See  Mai.  ii.  17  ;  Hi.  14.     Cp.  Cornill,  Der  Isr.  Prophetismns,  pp.  155, 
156 ;  Hunter,  op.  tit.  part  i.  pp.  121  foil. ;  ii.  p.  242. 


vn]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  327 

a  particular  spot  the  centre  of  religious  interest. 
Everything  came  to  be  regarded  from  the  point 
of  view  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  sacrificial  system  by 
which  the  nation  maintained  its  covenant-union  with 
Jehovah  gradually  assumed  a  disproportionate  im- 
portance. From  this  point  of  view  a  characteristic 
product  of  Judaism  is  to  be  found  in  the  books  of 
Chronicles.  The  writer  does  more  than  display 
a  devout  and  passionate  interest  in  the  temple  and 
its  services.  He  makes  the  legal  cultiis  a  standard 
by  which  the  conduct  of  the  Jewish  kings  in  pre-exilic 
days  is  judged.  This  standpoint  in  fact  colours  his 
entire  representation  of  Hebrew  history.  On  the  sup- 
position that  the  levitical  system  prevailed  in  the  days 
of  the  first  temple,  the  chronicler  commends  or  blames 
the  various  monarchs  according  as  he  believes  them 
to  have  religiously  observed  or  wilfully  neglected  the 
legal  observances. 

But  although  the  tendency  to  externalism  was  no 
doubt  most  decidedly  pronounced  in  Jerusalem  itself, 
even  among  the  habitual  worshippers  in  the  temple 
there  must  have  been  some  to  whom  the  sacrificial 
cultus  was  the  centre  of  a  deeply-rooted  spiritual  life 
and  a  true  means  of  spiritual  education.  The  very 
calamities  of  the  time  would  impel  devout  minds  to 
seek  for  solace  in  the  services  of  the  sanctuary.  Nor 
must  we  overlook  the  very  important  influence  of  the 
synajyogue^worship.  The  synagogues  of  Judaism  re- 
placed the  local  sanctuaries  of  the  earlier  religion,  and 
they  became  centres  of  spiritual  education — prayer 
and  the  reading  of  the  Law  being  the  most  prominent 
features  in  their  services1.  The  effect  of  such  an  institu- 
tion as  the  synagogue  could  not  fail  to  be  important.  '  It 
actively  helped,'  says  Mr.  Montefiore,  '  to  individualize 
religion,  and  to  bring  it  home  to  the  hearts  and  under- 
standing of  all  V  The  synagogue  in  fact  provided  a 

1  See  Kuenen,  Religion  of  Israel,  vol.  iii.  chap.  9. 

2  Hibbert  Lectttres,   p.   391.      Cp.   Riehm,  A  77.    Theologie,   p.   397 ; 
Hunter,  op.  dt.  p.  222. 


328  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

certain  spiritual  satisfaction  for  the  growing  needs  of 
the  personal  religious  life,  and  while  on  the  one  hand 
it  helped  to  diffuse  the  knowledge  of  the  Law,  thus 
giving  an  impulse  to  the  temper  of  legalism,  it  could 
no.t  fail  also  to  suggest  more  profound  ideas  of  the 
divine  requirement.  It  served  in  some  measure  to 
counteract  the  tendency  to  lay  inordinate  stress  on 
the  sacrificial  cultus  of  the  temple. 

It  would  accordingly  be  a  serious  mistake  to 
suppose  that  the  post-exilic  age  was  a  barren  period 
in  the  religion  of  Israel.  The  Psalter  alone  affords 
evidence  sufficient  that  the  triumph  of  the  nationalistic 
and  legalistic  element  in  Judaism  did  not  fatally  impede 
the  growth  of  personal  religion.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it 
seems  to  have  acted  in  two  ways.  In  some  cases  the 
fervid  ecclesiasticism  of  the  time  probably  tended  to 
produce  a  temper  of  sceptical  reaction,  such  as  we  find 
reflected  in  the  pessimism  of  the  Preacher :  the 
elaborate  cidtiis  of  the  temple  may  have  seemed  to 
exclude  the  presence  or  action  of  the  living  God.  On 
the  other  hand,  to  some  the  levitical  worship  seemed 
rather  to  bring  God  nearer 1,  and  to  give  vitality 
to  the  thought  of  Jehovah's  presence  in  the  midst  of 
His  people  :  to  such  the  cultus  was  full  of  symbolic 
teaching,  and  the  study  of  the  Torah  a  great  means  of 
communion  with  God.  The  Psalter  has  been  said  to 
illustrate  *  the  combination  of  prophetic  principles  with 
warm  attachment  to  the  purified  forms  in  which 
religion  was  outwardly  clothed2.'  In  the  Psalms  the 
religion  of  the  prophets  is  perpetuated  :  their  sacred 
hopes  and  fears,  their  joy  in  God,  their  boundless 
devotion  to  His  service.  The  Psalter  testifies  that  the 
discipline  of  the  Law  did  not  necessarily  quench  the 

1  Montefiore,  p.  385  :    '  Spiritual  communion  with  God  and  the  pure 
joy  of  a  felt  nearness  to  Him  were  born  from  participation  in  the  Temple 
service.'     Cp.  Schechter,  Studies  in  Judaism,  p.  292 ;   Kuenen,  Hibbert 
Lectures,  p.  165. 

2  Montefiore,  p.  386.     See  a  valuable  passage  in  Bruce,  Apologetics, 
pp.  272  foil.,  as  to  the  religious  significance  of  the  critical  view  in  regard 
to  the  origin  and  date  of  the  Psalter. 


VH]  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  329 

life  of  religious  emotion,  but  rather  purified  it  and 
imparted  to  it  a  new  intensity.  Nor  is  it  only  from 
the  Psalter  that  we  can  infer  the  actual  spiritual  effects 
of  the  period  of  legalism.  In  the  other  writings  which 
complete  the  Hagiographa  we  are  brought  face  to 
face  with  characteristic  products  of  Judaism.  The 

!  number  and  variety  of  the  books  composing  this  group 

is  significant ;  they  bear  witness  to  the  zeal,  literary 
culture,  and  religious  devotion  of  the  post-exilic  age. 

The  Hagiographa  testify  to  a  growing  receptivity 
of  the  Jewish  mind,  a  capacity  for  assimilating  ideas 
derived  from  Persia  or  Greece,  and  for  clothing  old 
faiths  in  new  forms.  They  practically  represent  the 
religious  life  of  a  people  which  had  passed  through 
many  chequered  experiences.  They  comprise  the 
products  of  religious  reason  exercising  itself  upon  the 
problems  of  life  and  of  religious  emotion  striving  to 
find  for  itself  adequate  utterance.  They  embrace 
books  so  opposite  in  character  as  Ecclesiastes,  Esther, 
Daniel,  and  the  Psalms.  Thus  they  embody  diver- 
gent phases  and  types  of  spiritual  experience,  and 
give  to  the  Old  Testament  a  peculiarly  representative 
character,  making  it  a  book  which  reflects  the  needs, 
perplexities,  and  aspirations  of  humanity  at  large. 

As  to  the  Psalms  and  Wisdom  literature,  it  is  suffi- 
ciently obvious  that  they  reflect  much  more  than  the 
spirit  of  one  particular  age.  They  do  indeed  give 
utterance  to  ideas  and  conceptions  peculiarly  Jewish  : 
the  Psalms,  for  instance,  display  here  and  there  the 
characteristic  temper  of  Judaism  :  its  passionate  sense 
of  national  rectitude,  its  haunting  consciousness  of 
uncleansed  guilt,  its  rigid  exclusiveness,  its  vehement 
hatred  of  national  foes.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
Psalms  are  the  product  of  a  spirit  which  has  realized 
the  mystery  and  blessedness  of  communion  with  God ; 
they  give  expression  to  its  infinite  yearnings,  its  awe, 
its  agonies,  its  desolation,  its  exultation.  The  Old 
Testament  Wisdom  also,  while  it  busies  itself  with  the 
problems  of  human  life,  or  gathers  up  the  lessons  of 


330  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

age-long  moral  experience,  displays  to  some  extent 
the  limitations  of  Judaism.  To  the  Jewish  sage, 
for  instance,  the  existence  of  God  is  an  axiom 
which  lies  beyond  the  range  of  possible  question. 
But  though  Jewish  thought  always  works  with  a 
religious  background,  it  deals  with  universal  problems, 
and  those  the  most  urgent — the  anomalies  of  human 
life,  the  purpose  and  meaning  of  pain,  the  mystery 
of  retribution.  And  if  the  Hebrew  sages  do  not  solve 
the  problems  into  which  they  inquire,  it  may  at  least 
be  claimed  that  they  adequately  state  them  l. 

Again,  the  sacred  histories,  Chronicles,  Ezra,  Nehe- 
miah,  Esther,  and  Ruth,  are  connected  together  by  the 
fact  that  they  are  '  studies  '  of  particular  periods  of 
Jewish  history,  written  from  a  particular  point  of  view, 
and  dictated  more  or  less  by  a  didactic  purpose.  The 
first  three  books,  which  seem  originally  to  have  formed 
together  a  single  work  and  are  closely  connected  in 
style  and  method,  reflect  in  a  very  instructive  way  the 
general  effect  on  thought  and  character  of  Judaism  in 
its  earlier  stages.  Their  point  of  view  is  purely 
religious  and  particularistic  :  their  aim  is  to  illustrate 
the  blessings  of  faithfulness  to  the  requirements  of  the 
levitical  code.  The  book  of  Nehemiah  even  displays 
some  traces  of  the  growth  of  a  doctrine  of  merit 2,  and 
a  consciousness  of  personal  righteousness  which 
occasionally  meets  us  in  the  Psalter  also.  The  book 
of  Esther  has  been  variously  judged.  Doubtless  it 
reflects  the  fierce  passions  awakened  by  the  Maccabean 
struggle,  and  so  far,  in  the  vindictive  spirit  which 
characterizes  it,  the  story  serves  the  purpose  of 
practically  illustrating  a  leading  defect  of  the  Old 
Testament  discipline.  But  though  the  inclusion  of 
Esther  in  the  Canon  was  perhaps  designed  for  instruc- 
tion rather  than  spiritual  edification,  the  book  is  by 
no  means  altogether  wanting  in  religious  charac- 
teristics3. The  LXX.  translation  seems  to  bring  out 

*  Cp.  Bruce,  Apologetics,  p.  242.  2  Nehem.  v.  19;  xiii.  14,  22. 

3  Cp.  Delitzsch,  O.  T.  History  of  Redemption,  §  81.  See  Luther's  verdict, 


vn]  THE   OLD    TESTAMENT  331 

more  clearly  than  the  Hebrew  the  belief  of  the  writer 
in  God's  providential  guidance ;  and  other  lessons 
may  be  derived  from  it :  the  '  deep  sense  of  personal 
vocation  to  do  God's  work,  faith  in  self-sacrificing 
intercession,'  courage,  patriotism,  and  a  steadfast  ad- 
herence to  the  true  faith  even  amid  heathen  surround- 
ings, which  the  modern  European  in  India,  Africa, 
or  Japan  might  imitate  with  advantage1.  There 
is  no  difficulty  in  recognizing  the  canonical  value 
of  the  book  of  Ruth,  which  some  would  regard 
as  a  polemical  product  of  Ezra's  reforms,  marking 
possibly  a  tendency  to  reaction  against  the  puri- 
tanical narrowness  of  the  time  2.  If  this  be  a  correct 
account,  the  book  of  Ruth  fulfils  much  the  same 
function  as  that  of  Jonah.  It  bears  witness  to  the 
universality  of  God's  purpose  of  grace  and  to  His 
compassion  for  the  heathen  who  lay  beyond  the  pale 
of  the  covenant. 

Finally,  the  book  of  Daniel,  apparently  composed 
as  a  manual  of  consolation  for  the  confessors  and 
martyrs  of  the  Maccabean  period,  is  a  specimen 
of  prophecy  in  its  later  apocalyptic  form.  With  this 
type  of  literature  the  modern  western  mind  can  only 
imperfectly  sympathize  ;  but  the  fact  is  undeniable 
that  apocalyptic  writings  exercised  a  very  powerful 
influence  on  Jewish  thought  during  the  last  two 
centuries  before  Christ3.  The  book  now  in  question 
bears  witness  to  the  strong  hold  which  Messianic 

o 

hopes  had  gained  upon  the  imagination  of  the  faith- 

ap.  Kohler,  Uber  Berechtigung  der  Kntik,  &c.,  p.  31.  Cornill's  estimate  of 
the  book  is  very  severe,  Einleitungin  das  A.  T.  p.  138.  Cp.  Meinhold,  Jesus 
und  das  A.  T.  pp.  97,  98  ;  Hunter,  After  the  Exile,  part  i.  pp.  237,  238. 

1  See  some  suggestive  notes  of  Professor  Lock  in  Sanday,  Bampton 
Lectures,  pp.  222-223.     Cp.  Kyle,  O.  T.  Canon,  p.  176. 

2  Cp.  Hunter,  op.  cit.  pp.  44  foil. 

3  Cp.  Drummond,  The  Jewish  Messiah,  p.  8  :    '  The  authors  of  the 
various  apocalyptic  works  .  .  .  are  not  justly  open  to  a  suspicion  of  wilful 
deceit.     Our  modern  taste  accords  little  welcome  to  this  kind  of  literary 
inventiveness,  and  our  modern  strictness  may  regard  it  as  not  altogether 
permissible,  but  I  see  no  reason  why  it  may  not  have  been  practised  by 
high-minded  and  honourable  men.'     See  also  Kuenen,  Religion  of  Israel, 
ch.  x  [Eng.  Tr.  vol.  iii.  p.  114]. 


332  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

ful ;  it  shows  how  effectively  they  sustained  drooping 
faith  under  the  pressure  of  persecution.  It  also  illus- 
trates the  characteristic  religious  practices  of  Judaism, 
its  fervour  in  prayer  and  fasting,  and  its  growing 
sense  of  the  merit  of  almsgiving1.  Moreover,  the 
book  of  Daniel  indicates  a  certain  advance  in  religious 
thought,  due  probably  in  a  measure  to  the  contact  of 
Israel's  religion  with  that  of  Persia2.  Again,  it  illus- 
trates the  remark  of  Darmesteter  that  to  the  Jewish 
mind  human  life  and  the  world's  history  were  a  drama. 
The  book  is  an  attempt  to  grasp  the  history  of  the 
world  as  a  whole  3.  It  is  dominated,  not  only  by  an 
unshaken  confidence  in  the  ultimate  triumph  of  truth, 
but  also  by  an  overmastering  sense  of  a  universal  divine 
purpose  which  overrules  all  the  vicissitudes  of  human 
history,  the  rise  and  fall  of  dynasties,  the  conflicts  of 
nations,  and  the  calamities  that  overtake  the  faithful. 

Such  is  a  general  description,  with  one  or  two 
unimportant  omissions,  of  the  contents  of  the  Hagio- 
grapha.  They  display  to  us  in  very  varied  forms 
the  religious  mind  and  character  which  the  teach- 
ing of  the  prophets  and  the  discipline  of  the  Law 
had  brought  to  maturity.  But  they  also  contribute 
to  the  Old  Testament  an  element  of  many-sided 
sympathy  which  otherwise  it  might  have  lacked,  since 
some  of  the  *  Writings '  reflect  the  experience  derived 
from  contact  with  Gentile  thought  and  life,  while 
others  are  the  product  of  that  habit  of  direct  com- 
munion with  God  by  which  man  gains  the  power  to 
penetrate  the  hidden  mysteries  of  the  unseen  world. 
The  Hagiographa,  in  a  word,  give  a  universal  character 

1  Cp.  Dan.  iv.  27.     Cp.  Riehm,  ATI.  Theologie,  pp.  397,  401.-  On  our 
Lord's  references   to  the  book,  see  Valeton,  Christus  und  das  A.  T. 
pp.  49  foil. 

2  e.  g.  in  the  doctrine  of  angels,  the  clearer  conception  of  Satan,  and 
possibly  the  idea  of  a  resurrection  of  the  body.     Cp.  Kuenen,  Religion  of 
Israel,  ch.  ix.     The  influence  of  Persia,  however,  on  Jewish  thought  must 
not  be  overrated.     See  Hunter,  op.  cit.  part  i.  pp.  82,  83  ;  Nicolas,  Des 
doctrines  religieuses  des  Juifs,  partie  i.  ch.  2. 

3  By  Jerome,  ad  Paulinuin,  14,  Daniel  is  described  as  'temporum 
conscius,  et  totius  mundi  ^iXiVroop.'     Cp.   Kuenen,  op.  cit.  ch.  x,  and 
Westcott  in  Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  art.  'Daniel.' 


vn]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  333 

to  the  Bible.  'All  the  sacred  books,'  says  Origen, 
'  breathe  the  spirit  of  fullness,  and  there  is  nothing 
in  them  which  does  not  descend  from  the  plenitude 
of  the  divine  majesty1.'  But  these  writings  especially, 
both  in  what  they  are  and  what  they  are  not,  seem  to 
testify  to  the  presence  and  operation  of  the  Spirit  who 
bloweth  where  He  listeth,  and  from  whom  the  secrets 
of  no  human  heart  are  hid.  It  is  this  remarkable 
universality  of  scope  which  differentiates  the  literature 
of  the  Hebrews  from  that  of  other  races.  Granted 
that  the  sacred  books  of  India,  Persia,  or  China  dis- 
play real  traces  of  divine  inspiration,  or  at  least  of 
providential  guidance,  it  nevertheless  remains  true 
that  the  Bible  alone  has  proved  itself  adequate  to  the 
task  of  instructing  the  ignorance,  assuaging  the  griefs, 
and  ministering  to  the  perplexities,  not  of  one  race 
merely,  but  of  mankind. 

In  this  lecture  we  are  chiefly  concerned  with  the 
books  of  the  Hagiographa  as  throwing  light  on  the 
divine  purpose  for  the  individual  soul,  thereby  laying 
the  foundations  of  personal  religion.  It  seems  to  be 
specially  their  function  to  prepare  the  way  for  three 
truths  which  in  the  New  Testament  are  openly  pro- 
claimed :  first,  the  doctrine  of  immortality ;  secondly, 
the  mystery  of  divine  providence ;  thirdly,  the  fruit- 
fulness  of  suffering.  Christ  Himself  openly  reveals 
these  truths,  and  in  so  doing  He  responds  to  the 
most  anxious  questionings  of  the  human  heart.  In 
the  Old  Testament,  however,  we  are  dealing  only 
with  the  intuitions  and  presages  of  holy  men,  dimly 
anticipating  a  future  solution  of  their  perplexities. 
In  their  searchings  of  heart  we  are  enabled  to  study 
the  spiritual  needs  which  God's  self-revelation  in  Christ 
was  designed  to  satisfy — needs  the  very  consciousness 
of  which  was  inspired  by  Him.  The  function  of  the 
\Bible  in  the  Church  is  not  so  much  to  originate  faith 
las  to  aid  and  educate  it :  and  faith  may  be  helped  as 
fwell  by  a  sympathetic  recognition  of  difficulties  as  by 

1  Hon.  in  Jerem.  xxi.  2. 


334  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

the  solution  of  them,  by  actual  examples  or  life-like 
pictures  of  faith  perplexed  not  less  than  by  instances 
of  faith  triumphant  and  crowned. 


I. 

It  is  natural  to  deal  first  with  the  idea  of  a  future 
life — an  idea  which  is  by  no  means  entirely  wanting  in 
the  theology  of  the  Old  Testament,  but  which  neces- 
sarily demanded  a  moral  basis  in  the  human  mind. 
There  could  be  no  doctrine  of  personal  immortality 
at  a  stage  in  civilization  when  as  yet  the  sense  of 
individuality  was  undeveloped.  Amid  the  conditions 
of  primitive  society  the  individual  as  such  was  practi- 
cally unrecognized.  In  religion,  we  are  told,  as  well 
as  in  civil  affairs,  '  the  habit  of  the  old  world  was  to 
think  much  of  the  community  and  little  of  the  indi- 
vidual life.  .  .  .  The  God  was  the  God  of  the  nation 
or  tribe,  and  He  knew  and  cared  for  the  individual 
only  as  a  member  of  the  community1.'  The  Old 
Testament  indeed  represents  the  redemptive  move- 
ment as  beginning  with  an  individual  man's  venture 
of  faith,  but  it  is  with  a  family  or  tribe,  in  course  of 
time  with  an  entire  nation,  that  Almighty  God  estab- 
lishes His  covenant-relationship.  We  may  indeed  see 
a  rudimentary  recognition  of  the  individual  in  the 
doctrine  that  Jehovah  visits  the  sins  of  the  fathers 
upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  genera- 
tion of  them  that  hate  Him;  this  implies  that  the 
welfare  of  a  small  group  of  persons  within  the  nation 
or  tribe  would  depend  on  the  conduct  of  a  single 
member  of  the  group 2.  But  in  the  main  it  is 
obviously  true  that  the  status  and  duty  of  each  indi- 
vidual was  determined  by  the  character  and  calling 
of  the  nation.  Certainly  the  Israelite  is  enjoined 
ever  to  bear  in  thankful  remembrance  the  vocation 

1  Robertson  Smith,  The  Religion  of  the  Semites,  pp.  241,  242;  R.  W. 
Church,  Discipline  of  the  Christian  Character,  Serm.  i. 

2  Cp.  Riehm,  A  77.  Theologie,  p.  28. 


vn]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  335 

and  the  privileges  of  his  people1:  and  there  seems 
to  be,  in  the  pre-prophetic  period  at  any  rate,  no 
thought  of  the  salvation  of  the  individual  apart  from 
that  of  the  nation.  From  the  Mosaic  point  of  view 
a  man's  position  depended  upon  his  relation  to  the 
covenant  people.  He  was  accepted  and  recognized, 
so  to  speak,  by  Jehovah  only  in  so  far  as  he  could 
claim  lawful  membership  in  the  elect  nation.  It  is 
only  when  viewed  collectively  that  Israel  is  honoured 
with  the  title  of  Jehovah's  son 2.  The  individual 
Israelite  had  no  right  to  appropriate  personally  either 
the  style  or  the  privileges  of  sonship.  He  enjoyed 
filial  dignity  only  in  virtue  of  his  incorporation  into  the 
community  which  collectively  inherited  the  promises 
vouchsafed  to  the  patriarchs 3.  An  individual  and 
personal  sonship  scarcely  makes  its  appearance  within 
the  confines  of  the  Old  Testament. 

The  utmost  that  we  can  clearly  discern  in  the 
religious  history  of  Israel  is  a  gradual  and  progressive 
moral  discipline  paving  the  way  for  a  doctrine  of 
personal  immortality  and  salvation,  which  without  such 
a  preparatory  education  might  have  appeared  incredible 
and  even  unwelcome  to  human  thought.  Now  we  find 
the  moral  groundwork  of  the  doctrine  of  immortality, 
the  premisses  as  it  were  from  which  the  conclusion 
might  have  been  drawn,  and  was  in  a  measure  actually 
drawn,  in  two  great  verities — the  one  characteristic 
of  the  age  of  Mosaism,  the  other  of  the  troubled 
period  of  Israel's  later  history  :  (i)  the  truth  of  man's 
relation  as  an  individual  soul  to  God,  (2)  the  truth 

1  Cp.  Deut.  iv.  7  ;  vi.  7-9.  Konig  holds  an  opposite  view  to  that  stated 
in  the  text,  but  his  arguments  fail  to  carry  conviction.  See  his  Religious 
History  of  Israel,  pp.  178  foil.  2  Exod.  iv.  22. 

3  Cp.  Riehm,  A  77.  Theologie,  p.  28  :  « Die  sittlich-religiose  Bedeut- 
ung  der  Personlichkeit  ist  noch  nicht  vollig  erkannt.  Gott  steht  im 
Verhaltniss  zu  dem  ganzen  Volke,  aber  der  einzelne  nennt  ihn  nicht  Vater. 
Nur  das  Volk  als  solches  ist  erwahlt,  und  einzig  als  Glied  desselben  hat 
der  einzelne  an  dieser  Erwahlung  teil.  Jede  Stoning  des  Gemeinschafts- 
verhaltnisses  zwischen  Gott  und  Israel  wird  daher  auch  von  ihm  nicht 
bloss  schmerzlich,  sondern  auch  als  Stoning  seiner  personlichen  Bezieh- 
ungen  zu  dem  Hochsten  empfunden.'  See  also  Oehler,  Theology  of  the 
O.  T.  i.  259. 


336  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT, 

of  a  fundamental  moral  order  concealed  beneath  the 
perplexing  anomalies  of  the  world. 

To  deal  with  these  in  order. 

T.  In  the  Law,  even  in  its  final  shape,  no  doctrine 
of  the  soul's  existence  after  death  is  definitely  taught. 
What  is  characteristic  of  Mosaism  is  its  deliberate 
and  entire  exclusion  of  any  distinct  conception  of 
the  state  after  death.  Dr.  Mozley  points  out  how 
favourably  this  absence  of  any  clear  conception  con- 
trasts with  the  false  and  unworthy  notions  which 
we  meet  with  in  contemporary  paganism.  Mosaism 
is  on  the  whole  marked  by  a  chilling,  negative  idea 
of  death — an  idea  no  doubt  in  many  ways  suitable 
to  a  dispensation  of  which  the  aim  and  tendency 
was  to  reveal  the  divine  holiness  and  abhorrence  of 
sin.  The  word  Sheol — the  place  of  departed  spirits- 
is  variously  derived,  but  perhaps  the  best  account 
of  the  word  is  that  it  is  connected  with  the  verb  byv 
to  be  hollow  :  it  would  thus  have  the  primary  meaning 
of  'hollow  place'  or  'pit.'  It  occurs  even  in  the 
earliest  writers,  and  is  very  frequent  in  the  Psalms 
and  Prophets,  being  often  poetically  personified1. 
The  only  definite  statements  as  to  their  condition 
are  to  the  effect  that  the  state  of  the  departed  is  one 
of  utter  privation  of  all  or  of  most  that  belongs  to 
life  ;  in  Sheol  there  is  darkness  instead  of  light,  for- 
getfulness  and  sleep  instead  of  waking  and  conscious 
thought ;  there  is  neither  hope  nor  joy,  nor  power  of 
praise,  nor  any  longer  the  solace  of  communion  with 
God.  To  descend  into  Sheol  is  to  go  down  into  the 
depths  of  the  earth,  to  a  place  of  corruption  and  of 
the  worm,  to  a  horrible  pit,  to  the  dust  of  death  *. 
But  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  not  supposed  to  be 
any  annihilation  of  personality  in  Sheol \  the  soul 
exists  in  a  state  of  consciousness ;  the  identity  of 
personal  being  continues.  In  Sheol  the  dead  are 

1  Cp.  Schultz,  ii.  324. 

2  See  Job  x.  22;  Eccl.  ix.  5  foil.;  Ps.  xxii.  15;  Ixxxviii.  12;   cxv.  17; 
Isa.  xiv.  10,  ii. 


vn]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  337 

gathered  without  distinction,  in  tribes  and  families ; 
men  are  said  to  be  gathered  to  their  fathers  not  as 
sharing  necessarily  a  common  tomb,  but  as  having 
a  certain  social  existence  even  after  death.  To  some 
extent  there  is  a  reproduction  in  the  place  of  the 
departed  of  the  circumstances  and  conditions  of  the 
upper  world :  kings  are  thought  of  as  sitting  on 
thrones ;  the  righteous  rest  in  their  beds.  Such  ideas 
contradict  the  supposition  that  death  to  an  ancient 
Hebrew  meant  annihilation1.  The  dead  were  believed 
still  to  exist,  though  their  condition  was  shadowy  and 
phantom-like  2.  Moreover,  the  practice  of  necromancy 
implies  a  belief  that  the  departed  have  a  higher 
measure  of  knowledge  than  the  living,  and  are  con- 
sequently able  to  foretell  future  events 3.  But  the 
prevalent  view  is  that  their  condition  is  one  of  loss, 
and  of  final  withdrawal  from  all  the  activities,  hopes 
and  rewards  of  life.  In  Sheol,  according  to  the 
Preacher,  there  is  no  work,  nor  device,  nor  knowledge, 
nor  wisdom.  There,  forgetful  and  forgotten,  the  dead 
lie  like  sheep,  cut  away  from  the  hand  of  God4.  It 
is  evident  indeed,  without  further  illustration,  that 
the  ordinary  Hebrew  conception  of  the  state  of 
death,  which  results  from  the  discipline  of  the  Law, 
is  based  on  the  visible  phenomena  connected  with 
death.  All  the  effects  of  dissolution,  as  they  im- 
pressed the  imagination  of  the  devout  Israelite,  are 
of  course  undeniable,  and  are  intended  no  doubt  to 
produce  a  certain  impression  on  the  human  mind. 
'  The  order  of  nature/  says  Dr.  Mozley 5,  *  is  a  melan- 
choly revelation  on  the  subject  of  death,  placing  one 
sepulchral  picture  before  our  eyes  of  generation  after 

1  See  Isa.  xiv.  9 ;  Ivii.  2  ;   I  Sam.  xxviii.  15  ;  Ezek.  xxxii.  21,  24. 

2  They  are   called    D^NSn,   'weak'    or   'pithless  ones,'  'shades.'     Cp. 
the    Homeric   ft'StoXa   Kapov-rav.     Job   xxvi.   5 ;     Isa.   xxvi.    14,   &c.     See 
Oehler,  §  78  ;  Renan,  Histoire,  &c.,  bk.  i.  ch.  9. 

a  Cp.  Riehm,  ATI.  Theologie,  p.  190.  The  practice  of  necromancy  is 
forbidden  in  Lev.  xix.  31  ;  xx.  6,  27  ;  Deut.  xviii.  n.  On  the  other  hand, 
Eccl.  ix.  5,  '  The  dead  know  not  anything,'  &c. 

4  Eccl.  ix.  10;   Ps.  xlix.  14;  Ixxxviii.  5. 

5  Essays,  vol.  ii.  pp.  172  foil. 

Z 


338  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

generation  of  men  entirely  disappearing,  and  being 
heard  of  and  seen  no  more.  Now  in  the  case  of  the 
Jew  the  appeal  of  nature  was  as  strong  as  it  is  now, 
the  opposing  one  of  Scripture  much  weaker.  The 
consequence  was  that  the  order  of  nature,  an  order 
intended  to  affect  the  mind  in  a  particular  way  under 
all  dispensations — for  God  does  not  make  even 
appearances  for  nothing,  but  intends  that  joyful  ones 
should  duly  gladden  and  mournful  ones  duly  depress 
us — affected  the  Jew  more  strongly  than  it  does  the 
Christian.  As  such  was  his  lot,  he  bowed  meekly 
to  it  and  received  the  whole  of  that  melancholy 
impress  upon  his  passive  soul.'  The  Old  Testament! 
horizon,  in  point  of,  fact,  lies  wholly  on  this  side  thel 
grave.  A  continued  existence  in  his  descendants — 
this  was  the  utmost  that  a  pious  Israelite  could 
reasonably  hope  for;  the  loss  of  life  was  in  a  sense 
a  *  withdrawal  of  the  highest  good  V  Consequently, 
even  devout  hearts  look  forward  with  dread  and 
unconcealed  bitterness  of  spirit  to  the  monotony  and 
dreariness  of  Sheol.  The  highest  blessedness,  the 
supreme  reward  of  covenant  faithfulness,  is  long  life 
in  the  land  which  is  God's  gift  to  His  people. 
Nothing  that  death  could  give — rest  from  the  storms 
of  life,  and  final  deliverance  from  suffering,  oppression 
or  contumely — seemed  to  be  any  compensation  for 
the  total  loss  of  the  blessings  of  continued  earthly 
existence,  to  which  the  Jew  clung  with  a  pathetic 
eagerness. 

What  then,  it  might  be  asked,  did  the  Mosaic 
dispensation  contribute  towards  the  idea  of  a  future 
life,  of  personal  immortality  for  the  individual  ?  The 
answer  is — it  impressed  on  the  Israelite's  mind  the 
truth  of  man's  covenant-relationship  to  God,  his 
dignity  as  admitted  to  the  life  of  fellowship  with 

1  Stade  ap.  Schultz,  ii.  327.  Even  after  the  exile,  the  pious  Jew  'did 
not  as  yet  venture  to  express  the  hope  of  a  life  after  death,  of  a  resur- 
rection of  the  body.  The  utmost  he  hoped  for  was  a  memorial  in  Jeru- 
salem (Neh.  ii.  20),  a  monument  within  its  walls  which  was  better  than 
sons  and  daughters  (Isa.  Ivi.  6).'  Hunter,  op.  cit.  i.  p.  83. 


vii]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  339 

God.  Man's  personality  was  of  permanent  worth  and 
importance,  inasmuch  as  he  was  created  capable  of 
standing  in  an  essential  relation  to  the  source  of  all 
good  and  to  the  moral  law  as  the  reflection  of  God's 
being.  It  is  this  side  of  the  Mosaic  teaching  which  is 
developed  in  the  Psalms.  Meanwhile,  we  may  notice 
in  passing  that  Jewish  faith  was  not  entirely  unvisited 
by  anticipatory  gleams  of  consolation  and  hope  :  to 
sustain  this  faith  there  existed  the  tradition  of  Enoch, 
who  walked  with  God,  and  he  was  not,  for  God  took 
him  ;  the  narrative  of  Elijah's  translation  to  the  unseen 
world  in  a  chariot  of  fire ;  and  that  of  the  return  of 
Samuel  from  the  abode  of  the  departed  to  prophesy 
the  doom  of  Saul 1.  These  are  at  least  testimonies 
to  an  anticipation  which  later  reflection  was  destined 
to  render  more  explicit.  Moreover,  the  Jew  could 
always  find  rest  in  his  fundamental  assurance  that 
a  holy  God  existed — a  truth  which  implied  the  reality 
of  an  invisible  world  of  which  God  was  the  centre. 
Further,  it  was  certain  that  Jehovah  had  willed  to 
make  a  covenant  of  grace  with  men,  in  order  to  bring 
them  into  a  living  fellowship  with  Himself.  Jehovah 
was  the  Almighty  God  of  the  patriarchs ;  and  herein 
lay  an  implicit  pledge — a  latent  prophecy — that  He 
would  continue  through  and  beyond  death  the  exis- 
tence of  a  creature  to  whom  He  had  displayed  such 
condescending  love.  Our  Lord  seems  to  draw  the 
conclusion  which  the  unbelief  of  the  Sadducees 
hesitated  to  deduce  in  His  recorded  answer  to  their 
captious  questioning :  Now  that  the  dead  are  raised, 
even  Moses  showed  at  the  bush,  when  he  calleth  the 
Lord  the  God  of  Abraham,  and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and 
the  God  of  Jacob.  For  he  is  not  a  God  of  the  dead, 
but  of  the  living;  for  all  live  ^tnto  kirn2.  In  the 
belief  of  holy  Israelites  that  God  continued  to  stand 
in  an  unbroken  and  eternal  relationship  of  grace  to 
the  forefathers  of  the  nation,  lay  an  implicit  sense 

1  Gen.  v.  24;  2  Kings  ii.  II  ;  I  Sam.  xxviii.  n  foil. 

2  Luke  xx.  38. 

Z  2 


340  PERSONAL   RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

of  the  enduring  dignity  and  preciousness  of  human 
nature — a  sense  which  formed  a  suitable  foundation 
for  the  idea  of  personal  immortality1.  Nor  must 
it  be  forgotten  that  the  Law  itself,  in  appealing  sternly 
to  man's  faculty  of  obedience,  implicitly  recognized 
his  worth  as  a  being  capable  of  response  to  moral 
commands.  Mosaism  recognizes,  so  to  speak,  the 
theomorphic  structure  of  man ;  it  treats  him  as  a 
spiritual  being ;  it  recognizes  his  moral  freedom,  his 
capacity  for  perfection  and  for  fellowship  with  God. 
Indeed  it  might  be  maintained  that  upon  this  view 
of  human  nature  *  the  whole  religion  of  Israel,  with 
its  idea  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  its  worship  and  its 
prophecy,  is  founded  V 

The  Mosaic  conception  of  human  nature  is  inherited 
and  further  developed  by  the  prophets  and  psalmists.  In 
the  writings  of  the  prophets  the  individual  relationship 
of  man  to  God  is  contemplated  from  the  moral  side. 
Thus  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel  qualify  the  doctrine  of 
inherited  guilt  by  insistence  on  the  truth  of  individual 
accountability.  The  former  prophet  in  his  vision  of 
the  future  new  covenant  includes  the  idea  of  personal 
salvation :  In  those  days  they  shall  say  no  more,  The 
fathers  have  eaten  a  soiir  grape,  and  the  children  s  teeth 
are  set  on  edge.  But  every  one  shall  die  for  his  own 
iniquity*.  And  the  thought  is  expanded  in  detail  by 
Ezekiel  :  The  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die.  The  son 
shall  not  bear  the  iniqidty  of  the  father,  neither  shall 
the  father  bear  the  iniquity  of  the  son :  the  righteousness 
of  the  righteous  shall  be  upon  him,  and  the  wickedness  of 
the  wicked  shall  be  iipon  him*.  (It  may  have  been 
Ezekiel's  sense  of  the  heavy  personal  responsibility 

1  Cp.  Riehm,  A  77.  Theologie,  p.  192  :  '  Lag  in  der  Gewissheit,  dass  der 
Fromme  in  der  Gnadengemeinschaft  mit  dem  ewigen  Gott  sterbe,  der 
triebkraftige  Keim,  aus  welchem  sich  die  Hoffnung  des  ewigen  Lebens 
entwickeln,   und   in  jenem    Glauben   an    Gottes   Macht   liber   Tod   und 
Totenreich   lag  das   Fundament   auf  welches   der  Auferstehungsglaube 
gegriindet  werden  konnte.' 

2  Schultz,  ii.  263.  3  Jer.  xxxi.  29  foil. 

4  Ezek.  xviii.  20.      Cp.  Kirkpatrick,    The  Doctrine  of  the  Prophets, 
pp.  340  foil. 


vn]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  341 

involved  in  his  own  calling  and  mission  that  led  him 
to  develope  this  line  of  thought.)  It  was  the  neces- 
sary correction  of  a  view  of  divine  governance  which, 
though  it  seemed  to  be  the  logical  outcome  of  the 
Mosaic  dispensation,  had  now  done  its  work.  Ezekiel, 
dealing  as  a  divinely  appointed  watchman  or  pastor 
of  souls  with  the  despondency  and  apathy  of  the 
exiles,  found  it  necessary  to  proclaim  a  truth  that 
formed  a  new  starting-point  in  the  evolution  of 
religion l. 

The  psalmists  occasionally  betray  their  conscious- 
ness of  two  opposite  aspects  of  human  life.  Lord, 
what  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him,  and  the 
son  of  man,  that  thoii  visitest  him  f  Thou  madest  him 
lower  than  the  angels,  to  crown  him  with  glory  and 
worship.  Thou  madest  him  to  have  dominion  of  the 
works  of  thy  hands,  and  thou  hast  put  all  things  in 
subjection  under  his  feet2.  Of  these  two  views,  how- 
ever, the  more  ideal  one  everywhere  prevails,  and 
indeed  gives  its  characteristic  tone  and  colour  to 
the  Psalter.  Consequently,  although  we  find  in  the 
Psalms  the  same  chilling  and  cheerless  conception  of 
death  which  the  discipline  of  the  Law  had  fostered, 
yet  alongside  of  it  we  find  a  conviction,  ever  growing 
in  clearness  and  strength,  of  the  subsistence  of  an 
indestructible  bond  between  the  living  God  and  the 
creatures  whom  He  has  visited  and  redeemed.  The 
idea  has  been  justly  called  '  a  sentiment  rather  than 
an  article  of  faith ' ;  yet  it  seems  to  be  powerful 
enough  to  resist  successfully  the  impression  made  by 
the  exterior  phenomena  of  death.  Thus  we  have 
such  passages  as  Ps.  xlix.  15,  God  will  redeem  my  sozil 
from  the  power  of  the  grave,  for  he  shall  receive  me, 
the  verb  used  being  the  same  which  occurs  in  the 
narrative  of  Enoch's  translation  (Gen.  v.  24),  He  was 
not,  for  God  took — received — him.  With  this  passage 
we  may  compare  the  outburst  of  faith  in  Ps.  xvii.  15, 
As  for  me,  I  will  behold  thy  face  in  righteousness; 

1  Cp.  Ezek.  xxxiii.  7,  10;  xxxvii.  11.  2  Ps.  viii.  4,  5. 


342  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

/  shall  be  satisfied,  when  I  awake,  with  thy  likeness. 
And  to  these  might  be  added  the  sublime  verses 
which  close  the  seventy-third  Psalm  :  Thou  shalt  guide 
me  with  thy  counsel,  and  afterward  receive  me  to 
glory.  Whom  have  I  in  heaven  but  theef  and  there 
is  'none  ^^,pon  earth  that  I  desire  beside  thee.  My 
flesh  and  my  heart  faileth,  but  God  is  the  strength  of 
my  heart,  and  my  portion  for  ever.  The  devout  Jew 
was  in  fact  able  to  feel  secure  even  with  the  prospect 
of  dissolution  before  him,  in  the  firm  conviction  of  his 
relationship  to  a  perfectly  holy  and  loving  being.  He 
rested  in  the  thoughts  of  peace  which  his  religion  sup- 
plied, not  inventing,  as  the  heathen  did,  a  definite 
picture  of  the  future  state,  but  trusting  calmly  to  omni- 
potent goodness  as  the  one  constant  and  fixed  reality 
amid  the  decay  and  change  of  visible  nature1.  He 
was  not  blind  to  the  positive  lessons  presented  by  the 
daily  spectacle  of  human  mortality.  He  doubtless 
learned  to  connect  the  mystery  of  death  with  the  fact 
of  sin  and  of  God's  wrath,  as  the  ninetieth  Psalm 
testifies ;  and  this  consciousness  of  a  close  relation 
subsisting  between  death  and  sin  would  certainly  be 
deepened  by  the  ceremonial  defilement  which  under 
the  Law  was  involved  in  any  contact  with  death. 
Nevertheless,  the  true  Israelite  could  hold  fast  to 
his  trust  in  God2 ;  he  could  submit  to  be  gathered 
to  his  fathers  in  peace,  secure  in  the  thought  of  that 
personal  relation  to  God  which  he  had  proved  by  the 
experience  of  life  to  be  a  solace  and  a  stay.  For 
the  very  call  to  communion  with  God  of  which  he  was 
conscious  would  be  to  him  a  pledge  of  uninterrupted 
life.  The  character  of  God — His  covenant-faithful- 
ness, His  creative  compassion  for  the  souls  which 
He  had  made — could  assure  the  righteous  man  of 
protection.  Death  would  be  a  supreme  and  trustful 
self-surrender.  Into  the  hands  of  God  he  would  com- 

1  Cp.  Mozley,  Essays,  ii.  173. 

*  See  Job  xix.  25  foil.;  Ps.  xcii.  13  foil.;  Prov.  xi.  7;  xiv.  32;  xxiii.  18; 
xxiv.  14  ;  Isa.  Ivii.  2. 


VH]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  343 

mend  his  spirit  in  confidence  that  a  being  whom  God 
had  so  highly  favoured  would  not  utterly  perish.  The 
hope  of  the  devout  Israelite  might,  in  short,  be  ex- 
pressed in  the  words  of  Augustine  :  Junge  cor  tuiLm 
immortalitaii  Dei,  et  cum  illo  aeternus  eris *.  Without 
therefore  laying  too  much  stress  on  isolated  passages, 
or  reading  into  them  a  belief  which  was  not  yet 
developed,  there  is  ground  for  the  statement  that  at 
least  the  foundation  was  laid  in  the  Mosaic  system  for 
a  doctrine  of  immortality,  since  the  Law  presupposed \ 
and  inculcated  the  truth  of  man's  dignity  and  worth  as 
a  being  called  to  communion  with  God  and  capable  of/ 
rendering  moral  obedience  to  His  will. 

2.  The  second  main  foundation  on  which  the  doc- 
trine of  a  future  life  could  be  based  is  to  be  found  in 
the  gradually  awakened  sense  of  the  anomalies  and 
difficulties  of  God's  moral  government,  and  the  apparent 
uncertainties  of  divine  retribution. 

The  Mosaic  doctrine  of  retribution  is  well  repre- 
sented in  such  a  passage  as  Lev.  xxvi,  which  em- 
bodies the  general  doctrine  of  the  Law  that  ultimately 
man's  earthly  lot  will  correspond  with  his  desert.  It 
is  one  of  the  incidental  limitations  of  Mosaism  that 
it  represents  the  present  world  as  the  only  scene  of 
God's  distributive  justice.  It  almost  invariably  connects 
material  prosperity  with  righteous  conduct  and  dis- 
aster with  wickedness.  Certainly  there  are  traces  in 
the  Old  Testament  of  something  much  higher  than  mere 
eudaemonism.  Earthly  blessings  are  promised  to  the 
righteous,  but  it  is  taught  that  they  are  to  be  prized 
mainly  as  tokens  or  pledges  of  divine  favour.  The 
psalmists  and  prophets  rise  to  the  thought  that  in 
the  presence  of  God  is  fullness  of  joy,  that  He  is  the 
hope  of  the  soul,  its  treasure  and  its  portion  in  the 
land  of  the  living,  its  unfailing  source  of  gladness,  even 
although  the  fig  tree  shall  not  blossom  neither  shall  fruit 

1  Enarr.  in  Ps.  xci.  8.  Cp.  Cheyne,  Aids  to  the  Devout  Study  of 
Criticism,  p.  159 :  *  Living  as  he  does  by  prayer,  and  with  a  sense  of  the 
invisible  things  which  grows  every  day  in  strength  and  purity,  he  cannot 
imagine  that  his  intimacy  with  God  will  come  to  an  abrupt  end.' 


344  PERSONAL   RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

be  in  the  vznes1.  And  in  general  it  seems  to  be  true 
that  the  Old  Testament  idea  of  'life2'  as  the  sum 
of  blessing  points  to  something  higher  than  material 
prosperity,  just  as  the  narrative  of  Joseph  sold  by  his 
brethren,  wrongfully  accused  and  thrown  into  bondage 
in  Egypt,  might  suggest  the  possibility  of  suffering 
befalling  the  innocent.  But  these  are  only  dim  antici- 
pations of  a  deeper  conception  of  retribution.  The 
simpler  Mosaic  doctrine  was  one  with  which  Jewish 
faith  was  evidently  loath  to  part.  It  seems  to  underlie 
the  treatment  of  history  in  the  books  of  Samuel  and 
Kings.  In  the  books  of  Chronicles  the  belief  appears 
in  an  almost  unqualified  form — the  writer's  apparent 
aim  being  to  construct  a  theodicy 3  rather  than  a 
history,  based  on  the  principle  that  the  temporal 
happiness  or  misery  of  the  nation  was  entirely  deter- 
mined by  its  attitude  to  the  moral  and  ceremonial 
injunctions  of  the  levitical  Law.  But  it  is  clear  that 
while  this  theory  might  be  suitable  to  the  phenomena 
of  a  simple  and  comparatively  stable  condition  of 
society,  it  was  liable  to  break  down  under  the  strain 
and  stress  of  troublous  times  ;  it  would  not  correspond 
with  men's  experience  of  the  actual  and  visible  facts 
of  a  highly-developed  and  corrupt  civilization.  In 
such  a  state  of  things  the  invariable  association  of 
righteousness  with  earthly  prosperity  was  not  found  to 
hold  good.  The  afflictions  of  the  godly  were  matters 
of  daily  experience.  A  Josiah  was  slain  in  battle;  'a 
Jeremiah  was  crushed  beneath  a  thousand  woes,  and 
sorrow-stricken  psalmists  prayed  in  vain  to  be  delivered 
from  the  injustice  and  oppression  of  the  great.  ...  In 
a  word,  evil  appeared  to  come  purely  from  a  law 
of  nature,  absolutely  irrespective  of  moral  order  V 
Now  these  unwelcome  facts  of  human  experience 

1  See  Ps.  xvi.  5  foil.;  cxlii.  5  ;  Habak.  iii.  17,  1 8.     Cp.  W.  S.  Bruce, 
The  Ethics  of  the  O.  T.  pp.  21,  22.   - 

2  D^n  Deut.  xxx.  15  foil. ;    Prov.  viii.  35  ;    xii.  28,  &c.     Cp.  Oehler, 

§*9. 

3  Cp.  Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  448. 

4  Schultz,  ii.  209. 


vn]  THE   OLD    TESTAMENT  345 

were  met  sometimes  with  a  persistent  denial,  sometimes 
with  sorrowful  expostulation  and  strenuous  assertions 
of  innocence  :  for  we  must  remember  that  the  Law  had 
not  only  trained  men  to  the  belief  that  suffering  is  the 
result  of  sin ;  it  had  also  produced  the  sense  of  guilt, 
and  its  opposite  the  consciousness  of  innocence.  This 
latter  spirit  was  characteristic  of  post-exilic  Judaism.  It 
breathes  in  many  of  the  Psalms  ;  and  a  main  element  in 
Job's  truthfulness  and  rectitude  of  character  is  his  stead- 
fast refusal  to  condemn  himself1.  The  same  temper 
finds  utterance  in  the  cries  of  expostulation  with  God  on 
the  apparent  injustice  of  His  dealings,  which  we  meet 
with  in  Scripture — in  the  protests  and  appeals  of  such 
typical  passages  as  Psalm  Ixxiii ;  Jeremiah,  chap,  xii  ; 
or  Habakkuk,  chap.  i.  The  fact  is  that  an  adequate 
doctrine  of  future  retribution  was  as  yet  lacking.  The 
righteous  sufferer  of  the  Old  Testament  was  left  to 
hope  against  hope  that  what  he  had  ever  believed  to 
be  a  law  of  divine  governance  would  yet  somehow  be 
triumphantly  vindicated.  The  same  sense  of  injured 
rectitude  also  contributes  to  the  impatience  and  thirst 
for  vengeance  which  startles  us  in  the  imprecatory 
passages  of  the  Old  Testament.  Both  alike — the 
expostulations  and  the  curses  uttered  by  godly 
Israelites — bear  witness  to  the  perception  of  a  serious 
moral  difficulty,  the  attempted  explanation  of  which 
was  to  lead  to  more  profound  views  of  the  future  state, 
as  one  in  which  the  anomalies  of  the  present  would  be 
corrected. 

So  far  as  the  Psalms  deal  with  this  problem,  a  solu- 
tion seems  to  be  implicitly  contained  in  the  idea 
previously  noticed,  that  namely  of  such  a  '  saving  and 
indissoluble  union  with  God '  as  might  adequately 
compensate  the  righteous  man  for  his  undeserved 
suffering  and  for  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked.  In 
the  Wisdom  literature,  however,  we  seem  to  be  able  to 
trace  a  continuous  and  progressive  effort  to  solve  the 
problem.  Thus  the  book  of  Proverbs,  reflecting  the 

1  Job  xxvii.  5. 


346  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LKCT. 

experience  of  a  relatively  simple  state  of  society, 
reproduces  on  the  whole  the  general  principles  which 
had  been  inculcated  by  the  Mosaic  discipline.  The 
authors  of  the  Proverbs  have  a  naive  confidence  in 
their  belief  that  sin  and  suffering,  righteousness  and 
earthly  prosperity,  are  causally  connected.  This 
optimism,  says  Professor  Cheyne,  is  'just  what  we 
might  expect  in  a  simple  and  stationary  condition 
of  society.  The  strange  thing  is  that  it  should  have 
lasted  on  when  oppression  from  within  or  hostile 
attacks  from  without  brought  manifold  causes  of 
sorrow  upon  both  bad  and  good.  .  .  .  There  must 
have  been  circles  of  Jewish  moralists  averse  to  specula- 
tion who  would  continue  to  repeat  the  older  view  of 
providential  government  even  at  a  time  when  the 
social  state  had  completely  exposed  its  shallowness  V 
There  are,  however,  hints  here  and  there  in  the 
Proverbs  that  suggest  a  more  profound  moral  insight ; 
in  some  passages,  at  least,  there  is  a  consciousness 
expressed  that  suffering  may  fulfil  a  probationary  and 
disciplinary  function  even  in  the  case  of  the  righteous. 
For  instance,  in  Prov.  iii.  1 1,  12  we  discover  a  view  of 
suffering  different  from  that  of  the  traditional  theory: 
My  son,  despise  not  the  chastening  of  the  Lord,  neither 
be  weary  of  his  correction  ;  for  whom  the  Lord  loveth 
he  correcteth,  even  as  a  father  the  son  in  whom  he 
delighteth. 

Then  follows  an  *  era  of  difficulties 2 ' — such  a  period 
as  included  the  decay  and  ruin  of  the  Jewish  monarchy, 
the  great  cataclysm  of  the  exile,  and  the  difficulties 
of  life  in  Palestine  after  the  restoration.  The  age  of 
Solomon  appeared,  in  retrospect  at  least,  as  a  golden 
age  :  at  any  rate,  it  was  believed  to  have  been  a  period 
of  generally  diffused  prosperity.  Probably  there  had 
been  in  Solomon's  reign  a  strong  consciousness  of 
national  unity,  a  fair  administration  of  justice,  and 

1  Job  and  Solomon,  p.  122. 

2  See  Dean   Farrar's   introduction   to  the   Book  of  Wisdom   in   the 
Speaker's  Commentary. 


vn]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  347 

a  sense  of  order,  stability,  and  security  in  the  conditions 
of  life.  But  towards  the  close  of  the  monarchical  period, 
when  pastoral  habits  had  to  a  great  extent  disappeared 
and  given  way  to  those  of  commerce  and  trade,  in- 
equalities of  social  condition  became  more  apparent ; 
the  prosperity  of  wicked  men  was  a  patent  fact, 
and  the  social  troubles  of  a  decaying  civilization 
forced  the  question  of  retribution  again  into  notice. 
The  miseries  of  life  in  Palestine  during  the  time  of 
the  Persian  domination  seem  to  be  reflected  in  the 
book  of  Ecclesiastes.  The  prevalent  evils  were 
*  unrighteous  judgment,  despotic  oppression,  riotous 
court-life,  the  raising  of  mean  men  to  the  highest 
dignities,  the  inexorable  severity  of  the  law  of  military 
service,  the  prudence  required  by  the  organized  system 
of  espionage  V  But  above  all,  the  captivity  itself  was 
the  crowning  example  of  the  undeserved  sufferings  of 
the  righteous  2.  The  figure  of  the  patriarch  Job  is,  as 
we  have  noticed  elsewhere,  a  type  of  the  righteous 
servant  of  God  overwhelmed  by  unmerited  affliction, 
and  there  is  some  reason  to  connect  the  composition 
of  the  book  with  the  period  of  the  exile  3.  It  may  be 
intended  to  impress  upon  the  godly  in  Israel  a  new 
view  of  suffering  as  not  merely  penal  but  probationary 
and  disciplinary,  testing  fidelity  and  patience.  It  may 
be  remarked  in  passing  that  this  was  an  idea  which 
we  find  already  suggested  in  the  book  of  Deuteronomy 
and  in  some  passages  of  the  prophetic  writings  4,  and 
that  the  author  of  Isaiah  liii  carries  the  thought  further. 
He  points  to  the  possibility  of  vicarious  or  substitu- 
tionary  suffering  ;  and  the  traits  common  to  the  sublime 
figure  of  that  chapter,  and  the  representation  of  Job, 
make  it  probable  that  the  same  idea  is  hinted  at  in  the 

1  Delitzsch,  quoted  by  Cheyne,  Job  and  Solomon,  p.  258.     See  Eccl. 
iii.  16;  iv.  i  ;  v.  8;  viii.  9;  x.  16  foil.      Possibly  the  book  of  Joel  also 
illustrates  the  condition  of  Palestine  during  the  Persian  period.  Cp.  Hunter, 
op.  cit.  pp.  238  foil. ;  Cornill,  Einleitung  in  das  A.  T.  §  28. 

2  Cp.  Habak.  ii.  3  Cp.  Driver,  Introduction,  &c.,  p.  405. 
4  See   Deut.  viii.    2 ;    Hos.  ii.  8  foil. ;    Jer.  xxxv.   13 ;    Isa.  xxvii.  8 ; 

Ps.  Ixvi.  10  foil. 


348  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

book  of  Job  itself,  which  teaches  that  Job's  sufferings 
give  him  intercessory  power 1.  The  problem  discussed 
however  remains,  as  Professor  Cheyne  observes,  un- 
solved in  the  book  itself.  Indeed  the  older  doctrine  of 
retribution  is  expressly  confirmed  by  the  issue,  accord- 
ing to  which  Job's  fidelity  is  rewarded  with  an  enlarged 
measure  of  earthly  blessedness.  The  net  result  of  the 
book  then  is  the  proved  insufficiency  of  the  traditional 
opinion  that  all  suffering  can  be  accounted  for  by 
personal  sin.  In  chapters  xiv— xix,  however,  we  find 
a  further  advance  towards  a  solution  of  the  difficulty, 
in  the  hints  there  given  of  a  supra-mundane  justice 
manifesting  itself,  if  not  in  this  life,  then  beyond  its 
boundary.  It  is  difficult  to  determine  exactly  the 
significance  of  the  main  passage  (xix.  26,  27)  that  bears 
upon  the  point  in  question  2,  and  it  is  manifest  that  the 
suggestion  is  left  undeveloped,  whatever  be  its  precise 
import.  Job  himself  falls  back  on  the  lower  standpoint 
and  presses  for  a  solution  of  his  unexplained  sufferings 
on  this  side  of  death.  And  the  ^reat  lesson  of  the 

o 

book  is  that  of  patient  waiting. 

The  book  of  Ecclesiastes,  reflecting  the  sad  expe- 
rience of  days  when  the  bulk  of  the  nation  was  in 
danger  of  losing  its  higher  hopes  and  sinking  into 
listless  and  sullen  despondency,  marks  an  '  era  of 
quiescence.'  In  the  book  of  Job  an  appeal  is  made 
to  the  divine  omnipotence,  the  thought  being  that 
supreme  power  implies  a  supreme  righteousness  in 
which  the  pledge  of  a  further  revelation  is  involved. 
But  in  Ecclesiastes  the  problem  of  retribution  is 
virtually  abandoned  as  insoluble.  The  writer  is  led 
through  the  many-sided  experience  of  life,  which  for 
him  ends  only  in  satiety  and  despair,  to  give  up  his 
fruitless  efforts  to  comprehend  the  principles  of  God's 
moral  government3.  He  evidently  realizes  keenly  the 

1  Job  xlii.  8. 

2  See  Riehm,  ^477.  Theologie,  pp.  360,  361.    The  idea  of  Job  seems  to 
be  that  God  as  a  Goel  or  Avenger  of  blood  will  some  day  stand  over 
his  grave  and  vindicate  his  character.     Cp.  Schultz,  ii.  329  foil. 

3  Renan,  L' Eccle'siaste,  p.  40 :  '  Cohelet  a  sa  place  definie  dans  cette 


vn]  THE   OLD    TESTAMENT  349 

untenableness  of  the  traditional  view  of  retribution  : 
but  he  ultimately  arrives  at  the  negative  conclusion 
that  trustful  obedience,  submission  to  God's  known  will 
for  man,  and  steadfast  fulfilment  of  moral  duty  can 
alone  make  life  tolerable.  There  is,  however,  a  sugges- 
tion peculiar  to  the  book  :  it  ends  with  the  presage  of 
a  judgment,  involving  a  new  self-manifestation  of  God, 
by  which  the  riddle  of  the  present  world  will  be  solved l. 
Moreover,  it  is  noticeable  that  the  writer  of  Ecclesiastes 
still  clings  to  that  sense  of  personal  relationship  to 
God  which  differentiates  man  from  the  brute 2,  and 
points  to  a  possible  continuation  of  existence  after 
death. 

On  the  whole,  then,  the  last  word  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  one  of  resignation  not  unhopeful.  The 
tendency  was  already  manifesting  itself  to  push  the 
solution  of  the  moral  problems  of  human  life  beyond 
the  limits  of  life  itself,  and  to  base  the  justifica- 
tion of  God's  ways  on  eschatological  doctrine 3. 
It  is  true  that  in  some  passages  of  an  apocalyptic 
character  we  find  a  doctrine  of  resurrection,  though 
still  confined  within  nationalistic  limits.  The  idea  of 
a  resurrection  of  Israel  as  a  nation  from  its  grave  is 
found  in  Hosea  and  in  Ezekiel4.  But  the  author  of 
Isaiah  xxiv-xxvii  foretells  a  divine  victory  over  death 
in  the  Messianic  age,  and  the  awakening  to  new  life 
of  the  godly  members  of  the  elect  nation  who  have 
perished.  The  purport  of  Daniel  xii.  2  is  similar. 

histoire  du  long  combat  de  la  conscience  juive  contre  1'iniquite  du  monde. 
II  represente  une  pause  dans  la  lutte.'  Cp.  Kuenen,  Religion  of  Israel , 
ch.  x. 

1  Observe  this  is  a  point  common  to  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament. 
Cp.  Ritschl,  Unterricht  in  der  Christlichen  Religion,  §  18,  note  d  :  '  Die 
Dichter  im  A.  T.  sehen  sich  durchgehend  in  ihrer  natiirlichen  Erwartung 
getauscht  dass  es  den  Gerechten  gut,  den  Gottlosen  iibel  ergehen  miisse. 
Sie  miissen  sich  begniigen,  die  Auf  losung  des  umgekehrten  Thatbestandes 
fur  die  Zukunft  von  Gott  zu  erbitten.     Deshalb  wird  die  Herstellung  der 
richtigen  Ordnung  atif  die  Erwartung  des  zukiinftigen  Gerichtes  Gottes 
fixirt,  sowohl  im  A.  wie  im  N.  T.' 

2  Eccl.  iii.  21  ;  xii.  7. 

3  Cp.  Farrar,  ubi  supra,  p.  417  ;  Cheyne,  Job  and  Solomon,  p.  201. 

4  Hos.  vi.  2;    xiii.    14;   Ezek.  xxxvii.     Cp.    Riehm,   ^477.    Theologie, 
p.  346. 


350  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

This  passage  does  not  imply  a  general  resurrection 
from  the  dead,  but  a  rising  again  of  all  Israel's 
dead,  good  and  bad  alike,  some  to  everlasting  life,  and 
some  to  shame  and  everlasting  contempt  \  The  doctrine 
of  a  general  resurrection  first  makes  its  appearance  in 
some  post-canonical  literature,  e.  g.  the  Apocalypse  of 
Baruch,  and  the  book  of  Enoch  2.  Only  in  the  New 
Testament  is  it  proclaimed  with  such  clearness  that 
St.  Paul  can  declare  that  life  and  immortality  have 
been  brought  to  light  through  the  gospel*. 


II. 

A  presage  then,  rather  than  any  definite  or  clear 
anticipation  of  a  future  life,  was  the  outcome  of  the 
long  period  of  discipline  which  began  with  the  legisla- 
tion of  Moses.  But,  at  any  rate,  the  foundation  of 
a  true  spiritual  life  was  laid  ;  the  soul  of  the  godly 
Israelite  learned  to  possess  itself.  Conscious  of  its 
high  calling,  Hebrew  faith  strove  to  apprehend  the 
significance  and  privileges  of  that  close  relationship 
with  God  to  which  it  felt  itself  summoned.  We  see 
the  fruit  of  its  endeavours  in  the  book  of  Psalms. 

We  shall  best  understand  the  true  function  of  this 
book  if  we  consider  the  real  meaning  of  religion. 
The  question  what  in  its  essence  religion  is,  is  an  old 
one,  and  the  history  of  human  thought  on  the  subject 
is  full  of  solemn  pathos,  mainly  because  it  is  the 
story  of  fundamental  and  most  disastrous  miscon- 
ceptions. There  was,  for  instance,  an  age,  and  a  condi- 
tion of  human  speculation  about  God,  when  it  could 
be  said  in  bitter  earnest — 

'  Tantum  relligio  potuit  suadere  malorum  *.' 

And  there  are  those  even  in  the  present  day  whose 
confidence  in  their  power  to  survey  the  whole  field  of 

1  Cp.  2   Mace.  vii.  9 ;   xii.  43  ;   and   see   Nicolas,  Des  doctrines  re- 
ligieuses  des  Jtti/s,  partie  ii.  ch.  6. 

2  See  Apoc.  of  Baruch,  chh.  xlix-li,  with  Mr.  Charles'  notes.     Cp.  the 
same  writer's  edition  of  the  Book  of  Enoch,  p.  52. 

3  2  Tim.  i.  10.  4  Lucr.  de  Rer.  Nat.  i.  101. 


vn]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  35T 

human  progress  leads  them  to  speak  of  Jesus  Christ  as 
one  whose  intentions  were  good,  yet  who  has  done 
infinite  mischief  to  the  world  '.  The  imperfections  and 
inconsistencies  of  religious  men,  the  disastrous  mistakes 
into  which  the  Church  has  now  and  then  been 
betrayed  by  the  folly  and  shortsightedness  of  her  own 
children,  the  divisions  of  Christendom — all  these  have 
no  doubt  fatally  wounded  nascent  faith,  and  retarded 
the  advance  of  the  divine  kingdom  :  they  have  pro- 
duced either  the  impatience  which  betrays  or  the  despair 
which  abandons  the  cause  of  God.  And  yet  when  we 
endeavour  to  explain  to  ourselves  that  overwhelming 
and  heart-piercing  fact  of  the  general  aversion  from 
religion  which  is  so  common  in  the  present  as  in  every 
age  we  shall,  I  think,  find  that  ultimately  it  is  due  to 
a  fundamental  mistake  as  to  the  true  meaning  of 
religion.  The  experience  of  saints  recorded  in  Scrip- 
ture shows  that  religion  is,  and  from  the  first  ever  has 
been,  the  life  of  friendship  with  God  ;  nothing  can  be 
clearer  than  this  conception  as  it  is  marked  for  us  in 
each  stage  in  Israel's  history  2.  A  friendship  between 
God  and  the  soul  of  man — this  is  religion.  So  the 
Old  Testament  tells  us  of  Enoch,  who  walked  with 
God  ;  of  Noah,  to  whom  God  revealed  His  secret 
purpose  of  judgment ;  of  Abraham,  who  was  called 
the  friend  of  God\  of  Jacob,  the  object  of  divine 
pity,  protection  and  favour  throughout  the  days,  few 
and  evil,  of  his  pilgrimage  ;  of  Moses,  with  whom  the 
Lord  spake  face  to  face  as  a  man  speaketh  with  his 
friend ;  of  Samuel,  dedicated  to  the  service  of  Jehovah 
from  his  childhood  ;  of  David,  the  recipient  of  awful 
and  momentous,  yet  most  tender,  promises.  The 
prophets  too — they  are  friends  of  God 3  :  they  repre- 

1  The  remark  is  quoted,  apparently  with  approval,  by  Darmesteter  in 
a  review  of  Kenan's  Histoire  dupeuple  d' Israel  (see  Les  Prophetes  d' Israel, 
p.  204). 

2  There  is  great  truth  in  a  striking  remark  of  M.  Renan  :  '  Le  peuple 
juif  est  a  la  fois  le  peuple  le  plus  religieux  et  celui  qui  a  eu  la  religion  la 
plus  simple ;  (U Ecdesiaste,  p.  28). 

3  Wisd.  vii.  27. 


352  PERSONAL   RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

sent  in  their  own  persons  the  ideal  calling  of  every 
individual  Israelite :  that  life  of  holy  intimacy,  of 
upward-looking  faith,  of  unreserved  self-surrender 
which  was  really  involved  in  the  vocation  of  God's 
chosen  from  the  first. 

But  it  is  chiefly  in  the  psalmists  that  we  find  typical 
representatives  of  religion — of  the  life  of  love,  The 
element  that  is  local,  national,  temporary  in  the  Psalter 
is  comparatively  insignificant.  '  What  gives  the  Psalms, 
even  more  than  the  Prophets,  their  value  as  classical 
devotional  writing's  for  all  times  and  peoples,  is  just 
the  withdrawal  and  partly  the  total  absence  of  the 
national  theocratic  point  of  view.  Cares  about  the 
fates  of  peoples  and  the  future  ideals  of  universal 
history-lay  far  from  the  Psalm-poet  of  the  Persian  and 
Greek  age  ;  to  him  the  place  of  the  secular  state  was 
taken  by  the  religious  community  V  The  Psalms 
describe  the  converse  of  the  human  soul  with  God — 
the  human  soul  in  its  solitariness,  its  frailty,  its  aspira- 
tions, its  yearnings  for  ideal  truth,  light,  peace,  love, 
and  joy.  They  bear  witness,  as  no  human  literature 
has  ever  done,  to  the  elemental  fact  of  life,  that 

'  God  alone  can  satisfy  whom  God  alone  created.' 

For  to  the  psalmists  God  is  all  in  all  :  the  refuge  in 
any  trouble,  the  rock  which  stands  unshaken  amid  the 
storms  of  human  life,  the  supreme  solace  in  loneliness, 
the  living  object  of  the  soul's  thirst,  its  richest  and 
most  precious  portion  and  possession,  the  object  of 
its  tenderest,  most  passionate  and  yet  most  restful 
self-surrender,  trust,  and  love.  This  is  the  blessed- 
ness of  the  true  Israelite's  religion  :  his  portion  is 
God,  the  living  God'2',  more  close,  more  dear,  more 
faithful  than  father  or  mother3,  bringing  refreshment 
as  the  true  fountain  of  life,  and  gladness  as  the 
source  of  all  beauty  and  light.  In  the  Psalms  it  is 

1  Pfleiderer,  Gifford  Lectures,  vol.  ii.  pp.  57  foil. 

2  Ps.  xlii.  2.     Cp.  Ps.  Ixxiii.  25  ;  Lam.  iii.  24. 

3  Ps.  xxvii.  10. 


vn]  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  353 

love  which  breathes,  love  which  awakes  and  sings  like 
a  bird  in  spring.  The  whole  passion  of  the  human 
heart  pours  itself  forth  in  that  endless  variety  of 
phrase  in  which  it  strives  to  realize  what  God  is  to  the 
soul.  The  psalmists  look  at  all  things  with  the  eye  of 
love  :  at  the  past  history  of  Israel,  the  vicissitudes 
of  the  soul's  life,  the  troubles  of  the  righteous,  the 
ordinances  of  temple  worship,  the  requirements  of  the 
Law,  the  solitariness  of  exile,  the  mysteries  of  pain  and 
death.  And  here  we  touch  on  what  is  most  fundamental 
in  human  life :  the  soul's  capacity  for  loving  God 
above  all  things,  and  resting  in  Him  as  a  refuge  and 
home.  It  is  surely  for  this  reason  that  the  Church  of 
God  places  the  Psalter  in  the  hands  of  her  children  : 
she  would  train  them  to  think  the  thoughts,  to  utter 
the  language,  to  experience  the  affections  of  love. 
There  can  be  no  more  eloquent  testimony  as  to  the 
true  meaning  and  power  of  religion ;  there  can  be  no 
higher  expression  of  its  essential  spirit  than  is  con- 
tained in  the  Psalms.  Religion — the  relationship  of 
love — is  here  described,  is  here  describing  itself,  as 
the  supreme  satisfaction  of  man's  deepest  and  most 
personal  needs  ;  and  the  essential  inter-dependence  of 
ethics  and  religion  is  implied  in  the  soul's  discovery 
that  the  highest  good  is  God,  and  that  communion 
with  Him  is  the  only  blessedness. 

Now  the  peculiar  contribution  of  the  Psalter  to  the 
religious  life  seems  to  lie  in  its  uniform  recognition  of 
the  truth  of  divine  providence — of  the  personal  care 
of  God  for  the  soul — that  mystery  which  (as  was  once 
said  by  Dr.  Newman  in  this  place)  might  well '  make  us 
laugh  with  perplexity  and  amazement.'  O  God,  thon 
art  my  God:  here  is  the  keynote  of  the  book.  The 
confession  marks  a  wonderful  advance  in  the  story  of 
human  faith.  A  devout  Israelite  did  indeed  recognize 
the  hand  of  God  in  nature  and  in  history.  He 
watched  with  reverence  and  awe  the  operation  of  an 
invincible  and  righteous  will  in  the  universe.  He 
acknowledged  its  supremacy :  Whatsoever  Jehovah 

A  a 


354  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

pleased,  that  did  he  in  heaven,  and  in  earth,  in  the 
sea,  and  in  all  deep  places.  It  was  He  who  bringeth 
forth  the  clouds  from  the  ends  of  the  world;  He  who 
smote  the  firstborn  of  Egypt,  both  of  man  and  beast 1. 
Jewish  faith  intuitively  perceived  that  all  things  were 
so  guided  and  controlled  as  to  serve  the  purposes  and 
promote  the  ends  of  a  moral  kingdom.  The  conception 
of  miracle  was  unclouded  by  any  speculative  difficulty, 
for  to  the  Jew  the  idea  of  the  fixity  of  natural  laws 
was  entirely  subordinate  to  the  sense  of  a  righteous 
will  bearing  all  things  onward  in  a  divinely  pre- 
determined course.  The  self-revelation  of  God — this 
was  what  gave  to  history  its  significance,  to  human 
life  its  dignity,  to  nature  its  mysteriousness  2.  But  it 
needed  a  certain  development  of  subjective  religion 
to  prepare  the  way  for  the  belief  which  is  reflected 
in  the  Psalter — the  belief  in  God  not  merely  as  the 
awful  ruler  of  the  universe,  but  as  the  precious 
possession  of  the  soul.  It  is  indeed,  if  we  think  of  it, 
a  new  spiritual  discovery  that  underlies  the  habitual 
language  of  the  Psalms.  That  the  Creator  cares  for 
the  single  soul,  that  He  answers  prayer,  that  His 
ear  is  open  to  the  cry  of  spiritual  desolation  or  need, 
that  He  can  dispose  and  overrule  the  hearts  of  men  as 
it  pleases  Him,  that  He  watches  and  protects  the 
individual  life,  shields  it  from  peril  and  provides  for  its 
natural  necessities,  that  His  care  extends  even  to  the 
beasts  of  the  forest  or  of  the  field,  and  to  the  birds  of 
the  air — this  belief  was  newT.  In  modern  times  it  is 
that  which  seems  most  to  be  threatened  by  the  im- 
mensities opened  to  us  by  science.  Yet  once  realized 
it  is  the  very  foundation-truth  of  religion.  He  that 
cometh  to  God,  says  an  apostolic  writer,  must  believe 
that  he  is  3 ;  and  he  surely  who  prays  and  longs  to 
love  God,  must  believe  that  He  hears,  and  cares  for 

1  Ps.  cxxxv.  6  foil. 

2  It  is  noticeable  that  the  later  Psalms  are  full  of  the  thought  of  God's 
immediate    presence    and  handiwork   in    the    ordinary   processes   and 
incidents  of  nature. 

3  Heb.  xi.  6. 


VH]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  355 

the  soul.  The  Psalms  testify  to  the  fact  that  the 
Jew  equally  with  the  Christian,  so  far  as  each  is 
true  to  his  faith,  lives  in  the  sense  of  divine  provi- 
dence 1.  It  is  a  belief  which  must  in  any  case 
follow  from  any  vivid  realization  by  man  of  God's 
personality,  and  of  his  own.  The  restoration  in  our 
time  of  the  lost  sense  of  a  Father's  providence,  which 
watches  and  tends  and  guides  the  individual  soul, 
depends  upon  the  measure  in  which  the  Christian 
Church  can  bring  home  to  men  the  truth  of  the  divine 
personality,  and  by  its  active  ministries  can  re-awaken 
the  consciousness  of  a  love  which  works  behind  the 
veil,  though  obscured  by  the  unlovely  struggles,  the 
harsh  competitions,  the  agonies,  disasters,  degradations, 
and  failures  incidental  to  the  march  of  civilization. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  enlarge  on  this  point ;  but  it  is 
worth  while  to  notice  that  the  general  teaching  of  the 
Psalms  on  this  subject  pervades  other  books  of  the 
Hagiographa.  In  a  sense  the  Psalter  gives  a  character 
to  the  entire  division  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  in 
which  it  occupies  the  foremost  place.  Its  importance 
corresponds  to  its  apparently  accidental  position,  and 
to  the  fact  that  the  entire  collection  of  Hagiographa 
seems  to  be  occasionally  quoted  by  the  title  of  The 
Psalms 2.  All  the  books  may  be  said  to  be  con- 
nected by  the  common  conception  of  religion  as  not 
merely  a  covenant  relationship  between  God  and  the 
chosen  people,  but  as  a  personal  possession  and  stay 
of  the  individual  soul.  The  dramatic  Song  of  Solomon, 
in  its  primary  acceptation,  may  be  regarded  as  a  divine 
consecration  of  human  love.  Incidentally,  in  so  far 
as  it  makes  for  purity  in  the  relation  of  the  sexes,  it 
serves  to  emphasize  an  element  in  the  religion  of 
Jehovah  which  sharply  distinguished  it  from  the  nature- 
worship  of  Canaan.  But  the  usage  of  the  New 
Testament  and  the  traditional  practice  of  interpreters 

1  Consider  Ps.  xxxiii.  13-15.     See  generally  Weill,  Le  Judaisme,  ses 
dogmes  et  sa  mission^  troisieme  partie,  chh.  1,2. 

2  Luke  xxiv.  44. 

A  a  2 


356  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

warrant  us  in  regarding  the  Song  as  a  description  of 
the  mystical  relationship  between  God  and  the  indi- 
vidual soul.  Hengstenberg  has  pointed  out  that 
the  New  Testament  is  pervaded  by  references  to  the 
Song  of  Songs,  and  all  of  them  are  based  on  the 
supposition  that  it  is  to  be  interpreted  spiritually. 
*  Proportionately,'  he  says,  '  no  book  of  the  Old 
Testament  is  so  frequently  referred  to  implicitly  or 
explicitly  in  the  New  Testament  as  this  one  V  The 
song  is  in  fact  an  idealized  representation  of  that 
relationship  of  love  between  the  soul  and  God  which 
in  the  New  Testament  is  so  often  described  under 
the  metaphor  of  a  bridal 2.  The  power  of  using 
the  book  with  spiritual  profit  is  a  great  test  both 
of  proficiency  in  the  spiritual  life,  and  of  purity  of 
heart ;  and  its  general  significance  seems  to  be  inde- 
pendent of  difficulties  in  regard  to  its  arrangement  and 
exposition.  When  we  consider  its  place  in  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures,  and  the  close  connexion  of  some  of  its 
language  with  that  of  the  Psalms,  we  shall  feel  that 
the  allegorical  method  of  interpretation  which  prevailed 
both  among  the  Jews  and  the  Christian  Fathers, 
though  it  has  been  modified  in  detail  by  a  critical 
investigation  of  the  book,  is  yet  in  the  main  a  true 
mode  of  dealing  with  it.  In  any  case  its  ethical  value 
has  been  vindicated ;  but  we  may  also  truthfully 
recognize  in  it  a  spiritual  and  mystical  purport 3. 

Something  of  the  same  personal  character  seems  to 
distinguish  the  historical  books  of  the  Hagiographa. 
The  book  of  Ruth  and  the  book  of  Esther  seem  to 
describe  in  conspicuous  instances  the  way  in  which 
the  providence  of  God  works  through  individuals  and 
guides  their  fortunes.  The  book  of  Ruth  is  not 
only  of  historical  importance  as  recording  the  ancestry 
of  Israel's  first  king.  It  also  bears  witness  to  the 

1  See  passages  collected  in  Comm.  on  Eccles.,  &c.,  pp.  297-303. 

2  e.  g.  John  iii.  29  ;  Eph.  v.  27  ;  Apoc.  iii.  20 ;  xix.  7  foil. 

8  Cp.  Keil,  Introduction  to  the  O.  T.  vol.  i.  p.  506 ;  Driver,  Introduction, 
&c.,  pp.  423,  424;  A.  ReVille,  The  Song  of  Songs  (Eng.  Tr.). 


vn]  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  357 

reality  of  a  divine  love  which  welcomes,  accepts,  and 
crowns  with  a  fitting  reward,  humble  and  trustful 
obedience  to  the  laws  of  natural  affection.  It 
describes  the  fulfilment  beyond  expectation  of  the 
blessing  pronounced  by  Boaz,  The  Lord  recompense 
thy  work,  and  a  full  reward  be  given  thee  of  the  Lord 
God  of  Israel,  imder  whose  wings  thou  art  come  to 
trust 1.  The  book  of  Esther  shows  us  the  providence 
of  God  acting  with  the  same  individual  and  dis- 
criminating tenderness,  but  on  a  grander  stage.  In 
Ruth,  God's  guidance  of  the  soul  is  illustrated;  in 
Esther,  His  providence  overruling  the  destinies  of 
His  Church.  There  are  of  course  defective  moral 
elements  in  the  book  which  lie  upon  the  surface  ;  but 
its  deeper  teaching  is  not  prejudiced  by  these 2. 
Again,  the  historical  portions  of  the  book  of  Daniel 
seem  designed  to  illustrate  God's  willingness  to  mani- 
fest Himself  even  to  the  heathen,  and  the  reality 
of  His  lordship  and  sovereignty  in  the  kingdom  of 
men 3.  Once  more,  in  the  large  historical  work  which 
comprises  the  books  of  Chronicles  and  their  sequel 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  assume 
that  the  historical  interest  is  uppermost.  In  Chronicles 
the  aim  is  very  clearly  moral  and  didactic.  We  may 
question  the  accuracy  of  the  Chronicler's  retrospect 
of  Israel's  history,  but  we  must  acknowledge  the 
general  truth  of  the  lesson  which  he  aimed  at  enforc- 
ing, namely,  the  reality  of  God's  disciplinary  dealings 
with  His  people.  A  leading  feature  indeed  of  the 
book  seems  to  be  the  tendency  to  refer  all  effects  to 
the  direct  causation  of  God — to  bring  out  vividly  and 
directly  the  reality  of  God's  moral  governance  in 

1  Ruth  ii.  12. 

2  Dalman,  Das  A.  T.  ein   Wort  Gottes,  p.  13,  remarks:    '  Steht  das 
Esterbuch  im  losesten  Zusammenhang  mit  dem  Zweck  der  Sammlung, 
nicht  weil  von  Rache  darin  die   Rede  1st,   .    .    .   auch  nicht,  well  der 
Gottesname  darin  fehlt,  .  .  .   sondern  weil  das  Purimfest,  welches  es 
motivieren  will,  kein  wesentlicher   Bestandteil    des  Gottesdienstes   des 
nachexilischen   Israel  der  vormakkabaischen  Zeit  war,  wie  es  ja  auch 
niemals  in  das  Tempelritual  Eingang  gefunden  hat.' 

3  Cp.  Dan.  iv.  17,  25,  32. 


358  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

history,  especially  in  that  of  the  Hebrew  nation.  It 
need  not  be  a  stumbling-block  to  us  that  the  writer 
'  consciously  or  unconsciously  shapes  the  facts  to  suit 
the  theory'  if  the  theory  be  in  itself  plainly  true, 
though  we  may  think  that  it  is  somewhat  artificially 
conceived  and  illustrated.  An  essential  element  in 
true  religion  is  the  conviction  that  God's  will  is  in 
very  truth  the  supreme  force,  the  one  ever-present 
cause  in  Jiistory  and  human  life,  working  indeed 
on  lines  less  simple  than  the  Chronicler  perhaps 
imagined,  but  still  acting  ceaselessly  in  judgment,  in 
retribution,  in  far-seeing  providence,  in  the  overruling 
of  evil  for  purposes  of  universal  good.  The  books  of 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah  are  also  plainly  more  or  less  sub- 
jective in  character.  In  these  the  personality  of  two 
conspicuous  men  is  very  prominent ;  but  in  both  cases 
the  thought  of  a  providential  mission  underlies  their 
recorded  experiences  ;  the  moral  value  of  such  a  sense 
of  mission  and  its  effect  on  conduct  and  character 
could  hardly  be  more  plainly  exhibited.  The  two 
pictures  together  present  us  with  two  types  of  indi- 
vidual devotion,  inspired  by  a  consciousness  of  divine 
guidance,  and  of  a  task  providentially  imposed.  It 
was  the  work  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  to  establish  and 
organize  a  Church,  on  such  principles  as  would  guard 
Israel's  distinctness  from  the  heathen  world  and  pre- 
serve its  national  unity.  In  the  broad  fact  that  these 
books  describe  the  reorganization  of  the  temple 
worship  and  the  endeavour  of  the  Jewish  leaders  to 
secure  a  more  general  faithfulness  to  the  conditions  of 
the  divine  covenant,  we  are  to  discern  the  element 
which  gives  them  a  place  in  the  Hagiographa.  The 
instruments  whom  God  raised  up  to  carry  His  purpose 
to  fulfilment  were  men  who  were  themselves  penetrated 
by  the  thought  of  the  blessedness  of  covenant  fellow- 
ship with  God. 


vn]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  359 

III. 

There  is  a  third  element  in  the  life  of  personal 
religion  which  the  Old  Testament  Hagiographa  bring 
into  prominence :  namely,  the  sense  of  the  fruitfulness 
and  blessedness  of  suffering.  This  theme,  treated 
under  various  aspects,  is  especially  characteristic  of  the 
Wisdom  literature — the  books  of  Proverbs,  Job,  and 
Ecclesiastes. 

The  importance  of  these  writings  is  due  to  various 
causes,  but  the  most  obvious  and  striking  feature  in  them 
is  the  spirit  of  universalism.  They  are  the  products  in 
large  measure  of  the  contact  between  Judaism  and 
heathen,  especially  Hellenic,  thought ;  and  they  have 
an  enduring  interest  as  forming  a  link  of  connexion 
between  Judaism  and  the  philosophy  of  other  nations. 
In  its  exile  and  dispersion  Israel  became  conscious 
of  its  missionary  function  in  the  world,  but  it  probably 
also  began  to  realize  the  religious  capacities  of  alien 
races  and  to  take  wider  views  of  the  divine  govern- 
ment1. And  so  far  as  the  Wisdom  literature  reflects 
the  spiritual  experience  which  Israel  had  thus  acquired, 
it  marks  a  stage  in  the  advance  of  Judaism  from  being 
a  national  faith  to  being  a  world-religion.  What  is  it 
then  that  gives  to  the  Wisdom  of  the  Hebrews  its 
uni versal  istic  character  ? 

First,  no  doubt,  we  should  place  the  very  con- 
ception of  divine  Wisdom.  It  was  a  conception  by 
which  Hebrew  thought  bridged  over  the  gulf  between' 
God  and  the  created  universe  ;  and  what  was  primarily 
regarded  as  an  attribute  of  God  became  poetically 
personified  as  an  objective  power  working  in  the 
universe,  at  once  reflecting  and  executing  the  creative 
thoughts  and  purposes  of  the  Most  High.  Wisdom 
thus  personified  has  been  admirably  described  as 
constituting  '  a  middle  term '  between  the  religion 
of  Israel  and  the  philosophy  of  Greece.  The  Jewish 

1  See  some  interesting  remarks  on  this  point  in  Stanton,  The  Jewish 
and  the  Christian  Messiah,  p.  105. 


360  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

use  of  the  word  was  calculated  to  suggest  that  *  the 
life  of  righteousness  might  be  identified  with  the  life 
of  true  wisdom.' 

Secondly,  we  notice  in  the  Wisdom  literature  a  ten- 
dency towards  the  systematic  study  of  ethics.  It  is 
the  nearest  approach  to  philosophy  exhibited  by  the 
Hebrew  mind.  It  starts  indeed  with  religious  presup- 
positions :  it  bases  the  theory  of  life  on  a  high  and  pure 
conception  of  God ;  it  approaches  problems  from  the 
standpoint  of  Hebrew  religion  l.  But  there  is  a  certain 
absence  of  religious  warmth  and  a  certain  freedom 
of  treatment  which  are  not  distinctively  Hebraic.  The 
book  of  Proverbs,  for  example,  treats  the  subject 
of  ethics  as  resting  on  an  independent  ground  of 
reason,  common  sense,  and  experience,  apart  from 
the  teaching  of  revelation.  It  shows  that  the  Jewish 
thinker  learned,  through  his  contact  with  the  wise  and 
cultured  of  other  nations,  that  there  was  a  common 
ground  on  which  he  might  stand  side  by  side  with 
them ;  while,  conversely,  in  the  sacred  books  of  Israel, 
a  Greek  would  find  shrewd  and  homely  practical 
teaching  on  the  subjects  of  life  and  duty,  virtue  and 
vice,  wisdom  and  folly,  which  would  be  analogous  to 
that  which  was  traditional  among  men  of  his  own 
race 2.  Indeed,  in  translating  the  book  of  Proverbs 
the  compilers  of  the  Septuagint  version  would  find 
themselves  compelled  to  borrow  equivalent  terms 
from  Greek  ethics.  The  book  is,  in  short,  a  mono- 
theistic treatise  on  practical  ethics,  its  distinctive 
feature  being  the  idea  of  wisdom  as  something 
transcendental,  as  a  gift  from  God,  manifested  in  a 
supreme  degree  in  Israel's  Law,  and  attainable  by 
man  only  on  condition  of  reverence  and  submission 
to  the  revealed  will  of  God.  It  is  true  that  Ecclesiastes 
shows  little  trace  of  religious  ideas.  On  the  contrary,  the 
writer  seems  to  have  lost  his  interest  in  religion  ;  it  may 
be  he  had  been  repelled  and  alienated  by  the  exces- 

1  Cp.  Schultz,  ii.  83,  84. 

2  Cp.  Prov.  viii  and  ix  with  Xenophon,  Memorabilia,  ii.  i. 


vn]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  361 

sive  systematization  of  religion  in  the  temple  cultus, 
or  possibly  his  contact  with  Hellenism  had  raised  in 
his  mind  misgivings  and  questionings  which  his  tra- 
ditional belief  failed  to  allay  or  answer.  Nevertheless, 
if  the  book  is  to  be  treated  as  a  unity,  it  must  be 
said  to  end  with  a  religious  solution  of  the  problem 
of  human  life.  Its  notion  of  duty  is  the  fear  of  God 
and  obedience  to  a  will  supposed  to  be  known.  So 
far  the  book  recognizes  a  special  divine  revelation 
vouchsafed  to  Israel. 

But  the  most  striking  proof  of  the  universalist 
standpoint  of  the  Wisdom  literature  is  to  be  found 
in  the  nature  of  the  problems  discussed  in  it :  the 
worth  of  life,  the  reality  of  God's  providential  govern- 
ment, above  all  the  meaning  and  purpose  of  suffering. 
Hence  is  derived  a  certain  catholicity  of  tone  in  these 
books  which  has  often  attracted  attention.  Thomas 
Carlyle  speaks  of  the  book  of  Job  as  *  a  noble  book- 
all  men's  book,'  and  Professor  Froude  comments  on 
its  remarkable  freedom  from  nationalistic  elements. 
4  The  life,  the  manners,  the  customs,'  he  observes,  '  are 
of  all  varieties  and  places.  Kgypt  with  its  river  and 
its  pyramids  is  there ;  the  description  of  mining  points 
to  Phoenicia ;  the  settled  life  in  cities,  the  nomad 
Arabs,  the  wandering  caravans,  the  heat  of  the  tropics 
and  the  ice  of  the  north — all  are  foreign  to  Canaan, 
speaking  of  foreign  things  and  foreign  people  ...  as 
if  in  the  very  form  of  the  poem  to  teach  us  that  it 
is  no  story  of  a  single  thing  which  happened  once, 
but  tfo  t  it  belongs  to  humanity  itself  and  is  the 
drama  of  the  trial  of  man  V 

There    is    no    doubt   a    national    reference    in    the 
narrative    of    Job.      The    book    contained    teaching 

1  Short  Studies,  &c.,  vol.  i.  pp.  296,  297.  In  view  of  the  freedom  of  the 
book  of  Job  from  specially  Hebrew  characteristics,  and  specially  the  fact 
that  it  illustrates  the  action  of  divine  grace  outside  the  pale  of  the  covenant 
people,  Bishop  Wordsworth  observes  that '  The  reception  of  the  book  into 
the  Hebrew  canon  was  a  generous  and  large-hearted  act  of  genuine 
sympathy  and  comprehensive  liberality  and  love.  It  was  like  a  kiss  of 
peace  given  by  Israel  to  its  brother  the  Gentile  world '  (Commentary  on 
the  Bible,  Introd.  to  the  Book  of  Job,  p.  vi). 


362  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

peculiarly  adapted  for  Israel  during  the  period  of  its 
humiliation  and  suffering  in  a  strange  land.  It  may 
be  regarded  as  'a  new  reading'  of  Hebrew  history. 
For  the  hero  seems  both  in  his  circumstances  and 
in  the  tone  of  his  thought  to  represent  the  afflicted 
remnant  of  Israel,  which  appears  to  have  had  a 
history  marked  by  severe  trials,  borne  with  great 
constancy  of  faith ;  and  some  have  supposed  that 
Job's  wife,  who  appears  as  a  temptress  endeavouring 
to  seduce  Job  from  his  allegiance  to  God,  represents 
the  multitude  of  Jews  who  apostatized  or  lapsed  into 
indifference  under  the  stress  of  trial  and  persecution. 
In  any  case  there  is  a  certain  idealistic  character  in 
the  sufferings  that  fall  upon  Job,  which  cannot  fail 
to  suggest  a  connexion  between  them  and  the 
calamities  threatened  in  the  book  of  Deuteronony  in 
the  event  of  Israel's  disobedience  to  the  divine 
warnings 1 ;  moreover,  as  has  already  been  pointed 
out,  the  figure  of  Job  corresponds  with  the  ideal 
sufferer  of  Isaiah  Hi  and  liii.  Accordingly  we  may 
discern  in  the  epilogue  of  the  book  a  word  of  con- 
solation for  the  true  Israel :  a  promise  of  glorification 
after  suffering  patiently  endured  2.  The  writer  very 
probably  intended  his  fellow- Israelites  to  see  in  Job's 
history  a  representation  of  their  own  misfortunes,  and 
to  trace  in  the  issue  of  them  a  forecast  of  their  own 
future  restoration.  We  may  also  discern  a  corrective 
intention  in  the  book  of  Job.  The  form  of  the 
picture  was  probably  designed  to  act  as  an  antidote 
to  the  temper  of  self-righteousness,  and  to  expose 
the  deficiencies  of  the  current  notion  of  retribution. 
But  it  is  in  its  contribution  to  the  Messianic  idea 
that  the  special  importance  of  the  book  seems  to 
lie.  In  one  of  his  essays  Dr.  Mozley  has  pointed 
out  that  the  book  of  Job  virtually  stands  in  an 
'  interpretative '  relation  to  the  general  body  of 

1  Cp.  Deut.  xxviii.  27,  35  with  Job  ii.  7. 

.  z  Isa.  Ixi.  7  speaks  of  Israel  as  receiving  double  ;  cp.  Job  xlii.  12.  Sec 
also  Isa.  liv.  i  ;  Ix.  7  ;  and  cp.  Job  xlii.  10  with  Ezek.  xxxvi.  10  foil. 


VH]  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  363 

Messianic  prophecy.  If  the  Jew  with  his  growing 
expectation  of  a  brilliant,  prosperous,  and  victorious 
Messiah  was  ever  to  accept  a  Messiah  who  should 
lead  a  life  of  sorrow  and  abasement,  and  ultimately 
be  crucified  between  two  thieves,  '  it  was  necessary 
that  he  should  be  somewhere  taught  that  virtue  was 
not  always  rewarded  here,  and  that  therefore  no  argu- 
ment could  be  drawn  from  affliction  and  ignominy 
against  the  person  who  suffered  it.'  This  function 
is  evidently  fulfilled  not  only  by  isolated  passages 
in  prophecy,  but  by  an  entire  book  in  which  the 
lesson  is  enforced,  the  book  of  Job1.  To  those  who 
like  Job's  three  friends  pertinaciously  insisted  on  an 
invariable  connexion  between  suffering  and  sin,  the 
cross  could  not  fail  to  be  a  stumbling-block 2. 

But  apart  from  all  reference  to  the  particular 
circumstances  of  Israel,  the  book  of  Job  has  a  catholic 
aspect  and  function,  in  that  it  discusses  a  problem 
which  in  one  form  or  another  is  the  problem  of  the 
universe — the  mystery  of  pain.  The  Hebrew  ten- 
dency to  individualize  Israel's  national  experience,  so 
familiar  a  phenomenon  in  many  of  the  Psalms  as 
well  as  in  Job,  falls  in  with  the  entire  movement 
of  man's  moral  education  as  described  in  the  Old 
Testament.  The  sorrows  of  the  nation  led  to  deeper 
reflection  on  the  function  of  pain  in  the  life  of  the 
individual.  Suffering  was  gradually  recognized  as 
a  necessary  element  in  the  evolution  of  higher  life. 
What  the  Christian  learns  from  the  example  of  his 
Saviour,  the  devout  Jew  was  taught  to  discover  in 
the  collective  experience  of  his  people.  It  was  a  diffi- 
cult lesson.  '  It  came  into  collision,'  says  Schultz, 
'  with  everything  which  a  superficial  faith  was  wont 
to  regard  as  most  certain.  When  Israel  was  first 
brought  face  to  face  with  the  idea  that  suffering  might 
fall  upon  a  saint  without  being  deserved  as  a  punish- 
ment, it  was  only  after  a  hard  struggle,  and  many 

1  See  Mozley,  Essays,  vol.  ii.  pp.  227  foil. 

2  Cp.  Luke  xiii.  2 ;  John  ix.  2,  34. 


364  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

a  bitter  trial  that  it  succeeded  in  making  this  thought 
its  own1.'  The  book  of  Job  bears  witness  to  the 
truth  of  this  remark  ;  and  it  might  be  added  that 
an  historical  example  of  the  agony  which  accompanied 
the  gradual  dissolution  of  the  traditional  idea  of  suffer- 
ing is  to  be  found  in  the  experience  of  Jeremiah. 
Almost  startling  is  the  expostulation  of  the  afflicted 
prophet :  /  sat  not  in  the  assembly  of  the  mockers,  nor 
rejoiced ;  I  sat  alone  because  of  thy  hand,  for  thou 
hast  filled  me  with  indignation.  Why  is  my  pain  per- 
petual, and  my  wound  incurable,  which  refuseth  to  be 
healed?  wilt  thou  be  altogether  unto  me  as  a  liar,  and 
as  waters  that  fail2?  It  was  only  by  a  discipline 
which  involved  the  righteous  in  the  calamities  brought 
upon  themselves  by  sinners  that  a  new  conception  of 
suffering  could  be  awakened.  It  had  to  be  recognized 
that  pain  might  have  an  educational  function  in  the 
personal  life  of  the  soul :  that  it  was  the  necessary 
condition  of  spiritual  power,  that  it  equipped  men  for 
the  task  of  raising,  blessing,  and  saving  their  fellows, 
that  it  imparted  new  gifts  of  character,  and  heightened 
the  faculty  of  moral  intuition,  that  it  was  in  short 
a  necessary  element  in  the  personal  religious  life. 

It  is  not  fanciful  to  discern  a  somewhat  similar  line 
of  teaching  in  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes.  Into  its  origin 
and  character  it  is  needless  to  enter  particularly.  It 
is  certain,  however,  that  it  belongs  to  a  time  when 
Hellenistic  influences  had  deeply  penetrated  the 
higher  thought  of  Israel 3.  It  is  also  generally  agreed 
that  the  book  is  in  some  sense  an  autobiography— 
perhaps  a  record  of  the  conflicting  moods  and  ex- 
periences of  a  child  of  Israel  who  had  travelled  far 
and  observed  much,  had  perhaps  utterly  lost  and  then 
painfully  recovered,  at  least  in  a  rudimentary  form, 
the  faith  of  his  childhood.  A  more  detailed  examina- 
tion of  this  book  seems  likely  at  the  present  time  to 

1  Old  Testament  Theology,  vol.  i.  p.  319.  2  Jer.  xv.  17,  18. 

3  The  date  of  the  book  seems  to  be  not  much  earlier  than  200  B.  C. 
See  Cornill,  Einlettung  in  das  A.  T.  p.  252. 


[i]  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  365 

>e  fruitful.  In  the  past  it  has  certainly  provoked 
:uriously  different  estimates.  Luther,  for  instance, 
calls  it  'a  noble  book  which  it  were  well  worth  while 
for  all  men  to  read  with  great  carefulness  every  day.' 
On  the  other  hand,  a  modern  German  critic  declares 
that  '  the  end  of  all  the  preacher's  admonitions  is 
recommending  ease  and  enjoyment  of  life/  And 
while  Cornill  compares  the  writer  to  Thersites,  and 
another  critic  describes  the  book  as  '  the  work  of 
a  morose  Hebrew  philosopher,  composed  when  he  was 
in  a  dismal  mood  and  in  places  thoroughly  tedious,' 
M.  Renan  has  described  it  as  *  livre  charmant !  le  seul 
livre  aimable  qui  ait  ete  compose  par  un  juif1.' 
Perhaps  the  more  common  impression  formed  of 
Ecclesiastes  is  that  expressed  by  von  Hartmann.  The 
book,  he  says,  is  '  the  breviary  of  the  most  modern 
materialism.' 

Now  considering  the  probable  date  of  its  composi- 
tion and  the  place  which  it  holds  in  the  canon,  we  are 
probably  right  in  considering  that  the  main  lesson  of 
the  book  relates  to  the  mystery  of  pain.  But  first  we 
should  notice  the  fact  that  it  has  a  place  in  the  litera- 
ture of  Israel  because  it  has  a  theological  or  redemptive 
significance. 

It  is  not  inaccurate  to  describe  the  book  of 
Ecclesiastes  as  a  divine  comment  on  the  life  and 
thought  of  the  Gentile  world.  Consider  St.  Paul's 
description  of  that  world  as  it  lay  open  to  his 
experienced  and  penetrating  gaze.  Its  leading  cha- 
racteristic was  vanity,  aimlessness, — a  life  in  which 
no  faculty  was  directed  aright,  in  which  all  labour 
seemed  profitless  and  mean,  all  unselfish  effort  value- 
less, all  worship  emptied  of  satisfaction  or  hope.  The 
Gentiles  walked  in  the  vanity  of  their  mind2]  and 
St.  Paul  bids  his  Ephesian  converts  remember  what 
and  where  they  had  been  :  Gentiles  in  the  flesh,  with- 

1  L?  Antichrist,  p.  101  (quoted  by  Cheyne,  Job  and  Solomon,  p.  242). 
Cp.  the  same  writer's  L?  Ecdesiaste,  p.  24. 

2  Eph.  iv.  17.     Cp.  Rom.  i.  21. 


366  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

out  Christ,  aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of  Israel, 
and  strangers  from  the  covenants  of  promise,  having 
no  hope,  and  without  God  in  the  world1.  These  last 
words,  €\7Ti8a  fjLr]  e'^oj/re?  KCU  aOtoi  kv  TOJ  jcooyKo,  concentrate 
in  a  single  phrase  the  sum  of  human  misery,  yet  how 
appropriately  they  would  form  the  motto  of  Eccle- 
siastes.  From  this  point  of  view  the  interest  of  the 
book  is  almost  unique.  It  stands  on  a  level  with  the 
prophetic  narrative  of  Jonah,  and  fulfils,  if  we  may  so 
speak,  an  equally  indispensable  function  in  the  litera- 
ture of  revelation.  In  this  book  a  pagan  worldling, 
sated,  despairing,  and  weary  of  life,  w^ould  find  him- 
self not  merely  described  but  understood :  he  would 
find  his  own  hatred  of  life  2,  his  alienation  from  God, 
his  cynical  despondency  expressed  and  interpreted. 
Thus  the  presence  of  the  book  in  the  canon  may  be 
regarded  as  a  token  to  the  Jew  that  the  Gentiles, 
wandering  in  vanity  and  moral  darkness  and  seeming 
to  be  beyond  the  pale  of  divine  care  and  covenant 
grace,  were  after  all  not  forgotten,  not  altogether 
abandoned.  The  book  is  a  pledge  of  coming  good 
even  for  them,  and  this  not  only  because  it  describes 
so  truthfully  the  conflict  of  passionate  moods  that 
might  distract  the  undisciplined  Gentile  heart,  but  also 
because  it  recognizes  the  fundamentals  of  natural 
religion  to  which  such  a  heart  might  half  uncon- 
sciously still  adhere.  It  speaks  of  God,  the  God 
of  Israel's  faith,  only  by  titles  which  the  heathen 
would  acknowledge,  avoiding  the  sacred  name  as  was 
customary  in  the  later  period  of  Judaism,  and  describ- 
ing the  deity  only  as  '  Creator'  and  '  Judge.'  And  in 
the  key-word  of  the  book,  A  His  vanity,  the  writer  seems 
to  cast  up  the  sum-total  of  man's  life  and  labours  apart 
from  God ;  nay,  he  expresses  the  condition  of  the 
whole  visible  creation  in  its  state  of  alienation  from 

1  Eph.  ii.  ii,  12. 

2  Eccl.  ii.  17,  '  I  hated  life.'     Renan,  L'Ecclesiaste,  p.  90:  'Le  pessi- 
misme  de  nos  jours  y  trouve  sa  plus  fine  expression.'     On  the  relation  of 
the  book  to  modern  pessimism  see  Wright,  The  Book  of  Koheleth  (Donnel- 
lan  Lectures),  ch.  vi. 


THE   OLD    TESTAMENT  367 

its  Maker  ;  he  describes  the  inherent  emptiness  and 
nothingness  of  all  that  has  not  God  for  its  end  and 
object  1.  Solomon,  in  whose  person  the  author 
describes  his  own  experiences,  is  taken  as  the  type 
of  universal  wisdom,  which  had  put  to  the  test  all 
that  life  had  to  offer  of  temporal  good  —  pleasure, 
wealth,  power,  knowledge  —  and  had  found  a  resting- 
place  for  heart  and  mind  nowhere  but  in  God.  But 
though  ascribed  to  the  Hebrew  monarch,  the  book 
reflects  the  condition  of  a  paganism  that  is  practically 
bankrupt  2. 

But  it  is  in  relation  to  the  problem  of  suffering 
that  Ecclesiastes  marks  a  moment  in  the  education 
of  humanity.  It  deals  with  pain,  first,  as  a  difficulty 
to  be  discussed  on  the  basis  of  traditional  ideas  ; 
secondly,  as  a  disease  to  be  ministered  to,  and  if 
possible  healed.  For  the  pain  which  it  contemplates 
is  not  merely  that  which  affects  bodily  life  and  well- 
being,  but  that  which  arises  from  contemplation  of 
the  anomalies  of  the  world  in  its  totality.  The  book 
reflects  a  spirit  of  far-reaching  scepticism  which  calls 
in  question  not  merely  the  dealings  of  God  with 
the  righteous,  but  the  very  existence  of  any  provi- 
dential plan  or  government  in  the  universe  at  all. 
Consequently,  Ecclesiastes  may  be  said  to  have  a 
twofold  aim  :  philosophic  and  didactic.  First,  it  con- 
tributes something  to  the  philosophical  or  moral  I 
problem  of  retribution  already  noticed.  We  have 
already  observed  that  its  standpoint  is  that  of  quies- 
cence. It  practically  renounces  the  fruitless  effort 
to  comprehend  the  mystery  of  God's  dealings  with 


1  Cp.  Rom.  viii.  20  ;   and  see  Greg.  Nyss.  Horn.  i.  in  Eccl. 
fffnv  rj  prjpa   a$iav6r]TOV  rj   rrpayp-a  dvovrjrov  r)    fiovXr)  ai/ujroVraroff  77 

TTfpas  OVK.  exovara  %  KadoXov  TO  eVi  TTOI/TI  XwireXovvri  avvTrupKrov.      Cp.  Hugo 
de  S.  Viet.,  Horn,  in  Eccl.  i. 

2  Riehm,  A  77.  Theologie,  p.  33,  says  :    '  Das  Heidentum  als  solches, 
das  sich  durch  die  Triibung  jenes  Gottesbewusstseins  durch  das  Welt- 
bewusstsein  charakterisiert,  kann  sonst  nur  negativ  auf  das  Christentum 
vorbereiten,  sofern  es  mit  sich  selbst  im  Widerspruch  steht  und   das 
religiose  Bediirfniss   des   menschlichen  Herzens  unbefriedigt  lasst  und 
darum  mit  Bankerott  endet.' 


368  PERSONAL   RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

men,  in  view  of  the  fragmentariness  of  human  know- 
ledge. This,  as  Cornill  remarks,  is  a  signal  triumph 
of  Old  Testament  piety.  The  writer  of  Ecclesiastes, 
he  says,  is  so  penetrated  and  dominated  by  the  spirit 
of  Hebrew  religion  that  he  escapes  the  apparently 
inevitable  conclusion  of  his  reasoning,  viz.  that  the 
world  is  subject  to  a  blind  and  relentless  Fate,  and 
falls  back  upon  the  belief  in  a  personal  God  in  whose 
light  the  human  race  will  see  light ].  Besides  the 
voice  of  pessimism,  or  (  malism '  as  Professor  Cheyne 
prefers  to  calls  it 2,  we  discern  tones  in  the  book  which 
contain  '  the  germ  of  a  higher  optimism ' ;  for  it  ends 
with  the  prediction  of  a  judgment  to  come — a  judg- 
ment which  will  solve  the  perplexities  of  the  present, 
and  which  because  it  is  personal  and  particular,  will 
be  relative  to  the  opportunities  of  individuals,  and 
will  involve  the  manifestation  of  every  secret  thing 
in  its  true  character. 

Again,  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes  has  a  didactic  import. 
Just  as  it  seems  to  indicate  the  care  and  compassion 
of  God  for  the  seemingly  unregarded  millions  of 
heathendom,  so  it  is  a  welcome  token  of  divine 
sympathy  with  the  mental  perplexities  and  spiritual 
sorrows  of  individual  men.  From  this  standpoint 
we  can  even  ascribe  to  the  book  an  evangelical 
function.  It  is  an  instance  of  the  simple  law  that 
in  order  to  minister  effectually  to  perplexity,  we 
must  show  that  we  understand  it.  Here,  as  occa- 
sionally in  the  Psalter  and  in  the  book  of  Job,  Scripture 
addresses  itself  to  an  abnormal  mood — perhaps  the 
very  darkest  which  the  human  soul  is  capable  of 
entertaining ;  in  order  to  give  a  proof  of  its  complete 
power  of  understanding  and  even  sympathizing  in 
some  degree  with  every  phase  in  the  life  of  the  human 
spirit3.  But  Scripture  only  depicts  the  dark  mood 

1  Emleitung,  p.  251.  2  Job  and  Solomon,  p.  20. 

8  So  Augustine  says  of  Ps.  xciv  that  it  speaks  comfortably  to  the 
perplexed  soul,  Enarr.  in  Psalm,  xciii.  9  :  '  Compatitur  tibi  et  Psalmus, 
quaerit  tecum,  non  quia  nescit,  sed  ideo  tecum  quaerit  quod  scit,  ut  in  iilo 
invenias  quod  nesciebas.  Quomodo  qui  vult  aliquem  consolari,  nisi 


vii]  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT  369 

in  order  that  the  soul  may  be  educated  out  of  it  and 
lifted  into  the  light  of  faith.  Ecclesiastes  ends  by 
pointing  to  the  certainty  of  judgment,  and  to  the 
life  of  obedience.  In  these  lies  the  only  hope  of 
attaining  to  further  light  in  regard  to  the  problems 
of  existence.  Thus  while  the  Old  Testament  finds 
a  place  for  the  cry  of  perplexity,  and  shows  its  com- 
passion for  the  agony  of  doubt,  it  teaches  that  a 
remedy  or  alleviation  is  to  be  found  only  in  fidelity 
to  known  moral  duty.  Our  Lord  practically  endorses 
the  admonition  with  which  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes 
concludes  when  He  plainly  says,  If  any  man  will  do 
his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine  whether  it  be 
of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of  myself1. 

We  have  reason  then  to  be  thankful  that,  owing 
apparently  to  the  liberal  and  large-hearted  spirit 
that  prevailed  in  the  school  of  Hillel,  Ecclesiastes 
was  allowed  to  find  a  place  in  the  Hebrew  Canon2.! 
For  it  is  undoubtedly  a  book  of  peculiar  value  to  those 
who  have  to  deal  with  the  mental  ailments,  often  so 
subtle  and  so  complex,  that  are  peculiar  to  the  present 
bewildering  stage  of  modern  civilization.  It  illustrates 
the  manner  in  which  the  temper  of  paralyzing  scep- 
ticism may  be  most  efficiently  treated,  and  it  points 
to  a  simple  creed  as  the  best  antidote  to  hopelessness, 
aimlessness,  and  heedless  oblivion.  Its  characteristic 
lesson  is  the  need  of  strenuousness  in  the  life  of  the 
soul — a  lesson  concisely  summed  up  in  the  words 
of  St.  Peter  :  Gird  up  the  loins  of  your  mind,  be  sober, 
and  hope  to  the  end  for  the  grace  that  is  to  be  brought 
unto  you  at  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ %.  The 
last  word  of  the  Old  Testament  Wisdom  is  a  warning 
that  human  life  must  be  ennobled  by  moral  purpose, 

condoleat  cum  illo,  non  ilium  erigit.  Prius  cum  illo  dolet,  et  sic  eum 
reficit  sermone  consolatorio.'  Cp.  Enarr.  ii.  in  Psalm,  xxi.  4 :  *  Intelligat 
homo  medicum  esse  Deum,  et  tribulationem  medicamentum  esse  ad 
salutem,  non  poenam  ad  damnationem.' 

1  John  vii.  17. 

2  See   Cheyne,  Job  and  Solomon ;    and  Ryle,  Canon  of  the  O.   T. 
pp.  195  foil. 

3  I  Pet.  i.  13. 

B  b 


370  PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  [LECT. 

brightened  by  hope,  and  sobered  by  perpetual  recollec- 
tion of  the  end. 

I  have  endeavoured  to  show  that  the  Hagiographa 
are  pervaded  by  certain  ideas  which  bear  directly 
upon  the  spiritual  life  in  man.  These  ideas  were 
suggested  by  the  actual  experience  of  Israel's  history ; 
they  were  developed  and  confirmed  by  the  discipline 
of  the  Law,  and  they  have  been  transmitted  to  Chris- 
tianity as  permanent  elements  in  the  religious  character. 
It  is  a  remarkable  characteristic  of  the  Hebrew  genius 
that  it  clings  closely  to  concrete  facts  and  historical 
traditions,  without  apparently  possessing  the  plastic 
power  to  create,  as  the  Gre^k  and  Teutonic  spirit 
created,  a  purely  imaginative  literature.  *  The  mind/ 
it  has  been  said,  '  which  feeds  eagerly  on  the  evidences 
of  an  actual  Providence  will  not  care  to  live  in  a 
world  of  its  own  creation1/  The  Jew  stood  alone 
in  his  persistent  sense  of  a  vocation  to  the  life  of 
communion  with  God.  The  thought  possessed  him 
and  absorbed  him  ;  it  awakened  memories,  it  quickened 
imagination,  it  roused  emotion,  it  trained  the  faculty 
of  spiritual  insight.  A  passionate  conviction  of  the 
divinely-ordained  dignity  of  human  nature  stirred  him 
to  self-consecration.  He  recognized  that  man  was  in 
nature  only  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,  that  dominion 
over  the  creatures  was  his  birthright,  that  God  had 
verily  put  all  things  under  his  feet. 

From  the  sense  of  human  worth  and  dignity  the  Jew 
advanced  slowly  and  tentatively  to  a  presage  of  his 
own  immortality.  A  being  so  favoured,  so  aspiring,  so 
richly  endowed,  so  precious  in  the  sight  of  God,  could 
not  be  made  for  nmight 2,  could  not  be  destined  to  pass 
into  nothingness.  But  the  longings  and  intuitions  of 
the  devout  Israelite  were  not  left  to  exhaust  them- 
selves in  vain  speculations :  they  rested  upon  the 
solid  basis  supplied  by  an  historical  revelation.  The 

1  R.  H.  Hutton,  Essays  Literary  and  Theological,  vol.  ii.  p.  211. 

2  Ps.  Ixxxix.  47. 


VH]  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  371 

tradition  of  ancestral  faith  testified  to  the  existence 
of  a  God  of  redeeming  grace  who  had  actually 
entered  into  a  covenant  relationship  with  Israel,  and 
whose  supernatural  guidance  of  its  fortunes  was  a 
reality  testified  by  age-long  experience.  This  faith 
gave  strength  and  consistency  to  the  hope  of  a  life 
beyond  the  grave,  since  it  suggested  the  idea  of  a 
watchful  providence  which,  while  mindful  of  national 
destinies,  was  yet  careful  of  the  single  life.  The 
Israelite  could  commend  his  parting  soul  into  the 
hands  of  a  faithful  Creator,  who  had  tended  and 
guided  him  throughout  the  days  of  his  pilgrimage, 
and  could  be  utterly  trusted  not  to  forsake  him  in 
his  passage  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death. 
It  was  a  dim  faith,  but  it  sufficed  till  the  day  of  a  new 
revelation  should  break,  and  the  shadows  flee  away l. 

But  advancing  experience,  while  it  deepened  the  Jew's 
assurance  of  an  overruling  providence  sustaining  and 
guiding  the  individual,  gave  rise  to  a  new  perplexity. 
There  came  a  period  when  the  Israel  of  God,  conscious 
of  its  zealous  devotion  to  Jehovah  and  its  fidelity 
to  His  revealed  will,  found  itself  in  exile — comfortless, 
afflicted,  persecuted.  In  their  efforts  to  comprehend 
the  meaning  of  a  calamity  that  seemed  to  contradict 
their  most  cherished  convictions,  godly  men  were 
led  to  a  more  profound  view  of  the  mystery  of 
suffering.  Israel's  history  suggested  dimly  at  least 
the  great  part  which  sorrow  had  played  in  the  de- 
velopment of  God's  purpose ;  it  had  been  the  puri- 
fying discipline  through  which  the  ancient  heroes 
and  saints  had  passed.  And  the  teaching  of  history 
was  to  be  supplemented  by  personal  experience.  The 
Jewish  saint  possessed  his  soul  in  patience,  and  as 
the  result  of  endurance  learned  to  say,  //  is  good  for 
me  that  1  have  been  in  trouble^  that  I  may  learn  thy 
statutes'*.  So  there  arose  a  religious  philosophy  of 
suffering ;  it  was  seen  to  be  in  great  measure  the  chas- 
tisement of  human  sin,  but  it  was  also  a  manifest  dis- 

1  Cant.  ii.  17.  2  Ps.  cxix.  71. 

B  b  2 


372      PERSONAL  RELIGION  IN  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT 

cipline  of  human  character,  and  the  needful  probation 
of  human  fidelity.  Much  was  still  left  unexplained : 
there  were  perplexities  which  no  reasoning  could 
solace,  and  no  analysis  could  satisfactorily  explore. 
Such  perplexities  are  reflected  in  the  book  of  Eccle- 
siastes,  and  they  seem  to  be  intended  to  recall  the  soul 
to  its  primary  intuitions — to  its  faith  in  God,  duty,  and 
human  accountability.  In  this  record  of  the  experi- 
ence of  *  a  child  of  Israel,  a  child  of  God'  the  sorely 
troubled  spirit  may  recognize  itself;  it  may  be  com- 
forted or  at  least  touched  by  the  discovery  that 
however  far  it  has  wandered  from  light  and  love, 
it  is  not  forgotten,  it  is  understood,  it  is  followed,  it 
is  pitied.  For  to  the  heart  of  man  God  is  a  refuge 
in  any  trouble ;  in  the  thought  of  His  creative  com- 
passion there  is  hope ;  in  the  revelation  of  His  good- 
ness there  is  a  pledge  of  love  which  will  deign  to 
subject  itself  to  the  conditions  of  our  mortality,  there 
is  the  implicit  promise  of  a  divine  self-sacrifice.  The 
perplexities  which  overwhelmed  the  heart  of  the 
Hebrew  sage  press  not  less  heavily  upon  us.  With 
the  apostolic  writer,  we  can  only  say  concerning  man, 
We  see  not  yet  all  things  put  under  him.  But  we 
Christians  possess  in  our  creed  a  key  to  the  dread 
mystery  of  existence.  We  see  Jesus^.  We  see  the 
Son  of  man  exalted  to  the  throne  of  God.  The 
Gospel  of  the  risen  and  ascended  Christ  suffices  to 
sustain  and  reassure  the  hearts  that  shrink  and  the 
spirits  that  faint : — 

*  Beyond  the  tale,  I  reach  into  the  dark, 
Feel  what  I  cannot  see,  and  still  faith  stands. 
I  can  believe  this  dread  machinery 
Of  sin  and  sorrow  would  confound  me  else, 
Devised,— all  pain,  at  most  expenditure 
Of  pain  by  who  devised  pain, — to  evolve 
By  new  machinery  in  counterpart 
The  moral  qualities  of  man, — how  else  ? 
To  make  him  love  in  turn  and  be  beloved, 
Creative  and  self-sacrificing  too, 
And  thus  eventually  God-like.' 

1  Heb.  ii.  8,  9. 


LECTURE   VIII 

Open  thou  mine  eyes,  that  I  may  behold  wondrous  things  out  of  thy 
law. — Ps.  cxix.  1 8. 

Then  opened  he  their  understanding,  that  they  might  understand  the 
scriptures. — Luke  xxiv.  45. 

IN  my  first  lecture  it  was  pointed  out  that  Scripture 
has  a  twofold  character  corresponding  to  the  dual 
nature  of  Christ ;  and  it  would  seem  that  erroneous 
ideas  about  the  Bible  and  its  inspiration  have  often 
been  the  direct  result  of  forgetting  the  analogy  that 
subsists  between  the  written  and  the  incarnate  Word 
of  God. 

The  self-manifestation  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ  was 
the  answer  to  an  age-long  prayer;  it  presupposed 
human  aspirations  and  human  faith ;  it  appealed  to 
ideas  of  God  which  a  divine  discipline  had  already 
moulded  and  purified.  The  Gospels  in  fact  show  us 
that  the  power  to  discern  the  true  nature  and  to 
apprehend  the  teaching  of  Christ  depended  upon  the 
temper  and  attitude  of  individual  minds.  Mere 
intellect  and  human  learning  were  of  little  avail ;  as 
often  as  not  they  proved  to  be  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
true  discernment.  Christ's  manifestation  of  Himself 
was  addressed  to  faith  and  to  the  consciousness  of 
need.  He  was  the  saviour  of  the  lost,  the  physician 
of  the  sick,  the  rewarder  of  humility  and  perseverance. 
The  Pharisee  with  all  his  zeal  for  the  law  of  God,  the 
Sadducee  with  all  his  supposed  superiority  to  antiquated 
prejudices,  the  scribe  with  all  his  learning,  saw  in 
Jesus  Christ  nothing  more  than  a  human  teacher1.  In 
a  word,  men  found  in  Him  what  they  were  prepared  to 

1  Cp.  John  iii.  2 ;  Luke  vii.  39 ;  xx.  41. 


374      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

find;  some  listened  to  Him,  some  admired  Him,  some 
hated  and  feared  Him,  some  received  him ;  and  to 
these  last  gave  he  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God^. 
No  man  could  come  unto  Him  in  a  saving  sense 
except  such  as  were  drawn  to  Him  by  the  Father  who 
had  sent  Him  2.  And  that  the  written  word  comes 
to  men  under  similar  conditions  has  been  proved  by 
experience.  We  cannot  too  often  remind  ourselves 
that  of  all  the  faculties  with  which  we  seek  God  and 
apprehend  His  will,  one  only  brings  the  soul  into  actual 
contact  with  Him — namely,  that  which  St.  Paul  calls 
faith  working  by  love 3.  It  follows  that  the  right 
understanding  of  Scripture  is  a  reward  by  which 
persevering  faith  is  crowned.  In  the  upper  chamber 
He  who  had  Himself  inspired  the  Hebrew  prophets 
and  guided  the  pen  of  chroniclers,  poets,  and  sages, 
answered  the  prayer  to  which  the  Psalmist  gives 
utterance  :  Open  thou  mine  eyes,  that  I  may  behold 
wondrous  things  out  of  thy  law.  He  expounded  unto 
His  disciples  in  all  the  scriptures  the  things  concerning 
himself*.  He  enabled  them  to  penetrate  through 
the  veil  of  the  letter  to  the  Messianic  sense  beneath  ; 
He  taught  them  to  regard  the  Old  Testament  as 
a  vast  and  continuous  prophecy  of  Himself;  and  in  so 
doing  He  gave  His  sanction  to  that  method  of 
interpreting  Scripture  which  corresponds  to  its  two- 
fold character :  the  method  which  finds  unsuspected 
spiritual  meaning,  eternal  and  ideal  teaching,  concealed 
beneath  the  exterior  form  which  meets  the  eye.  Thus 
the  anticipations  of  an  earlier  age  were  justified.  For 
the  Psalmist's  prayer  illustrates  the  effect  produced  on 
devout  hearts  by  the  study  of  the  sacred  Law,  which 
formed  the  earliest  canon  of  Hebrew  Scripture.  It 
testifies  to  the  growth  of  a  consciousness  that  the 
written  word  embodied  a  spirit  which  had  ceased  at 
least  for  a  while  to  be  a  living  force  in  the  hearts  of 
men.  For  the  voice  of  prophecy  in  its  strict  sense  was 

1  John  i.  12.  2  John  vi.  44. 

3  Gal.  v.  6.  *  Luke  xxiv.  27. 


vm]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      375 

silent.  It  had  been  succeeded  by  the  learned  labour 
of  the  scribes — teachers  who  no  longer  based  their 
claim  to  attention  on  any  personal  divine  commission, 
but  were  content  to  appeal  to  the  authority  either  of 
the  written  word1,  or  of  the  unwritten  Halachah,  or 
law  of  custom  by  which  the  Tor  ah  was  supplemented 
and  almost  superseded. 

The  1 1  Qth  Psalm,  however,  is  evidently  the  fruit 
not  of  mere  traditional  instruction  orally  received, 
but  of  personal  study  and  contemplation  of  the 
sacred  law.  It  witnesses  to  a  rising  sense  of  the 
depth,  the  mystery,  and  the  many-sidedness  of  a  book 
which  the  spiritual  experience  of  the  faithful  had 
recognized  as  God's  word  to  His  people.  It  reminds 
us  that  even  the  most  perfect  methods  of  literal  and 
historical  exegesis  may  fall  short  of  appreciating  the 
full  significance  of  Scripture.  The  search  after  God 
and  after  a  true  knowledge  of  His  ways  implies  not 
only  a  temper  of  constant  dependence  on  the  guidance 
of  His  Spirit,  but  a  continual  recollection  of  the 
limitations  and  defects  of  even  the  highest  faculties, 
and  the  most  skilled  methods  of  research 2.  No 
one  who  contemplates  in  the  spirit  of  Pascal  or  of 
Butler  the  infinite  mystery  that  surrounds  human  life 
and  divine  revelation  will  deny  the  reasonableness  and 
necessity  within  limits  of  a  spiritual  or  mystical  inter- 
pretation of  Scripture.  To  despise  the  use  and  results 
of  a  method  which  has  undoubtedly  been  sometimes 
employed  in  an  arbitrary  and  fantastic  fashion,  is  to 
incur  a  serious  spiritual  and  mental  loss 3.  A  true 

1  Oettli,  Der gegen wartige  Kampfiim  das  A.  T.  p.  10:  'An  die  Stelle 
des  lebendigen  und  begeisterten  Prophetenwortes  tritt  der  heilige  Kodex, 
der  die  Religion  normiert  und  bindet.'     Cp.  Hunter,  After  the  Exile, 
part  ii.  ch.  16  ;  Kuenen,  Religion  of  Israel,  ch.  ix. 

2  Cp.  Aug.  de  util.  cred.  4 :  *  Sed  praesumo  quod  et  in  hac  spe,  qua 
spero  vos  viam  sapientiae  mecum  obtenturos,  non  me  deseret  ille  cui 
sacratus  sum ;  quern  dies  noctesque  intueri  conor ;  et  quoniam  propter 
peccata  mea  propterque  consuetudinem  plagis  veternosarum  opinionum 
sauciatum  oculum  animae  gerens,  invalidum  me  esse  cognosce,  saepe 
rogo  cum  lacrymis.' 

3  Cp.  Westcott,  Introd.  to  the  Study  of  the  Gospels,  p.  458:  'It  may  be 
as  unfair  to  disparage  the  symbolic  interpretation  of  Scripture  by  Origen's 


373      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

element  in  spiritual  perception  is  the  sense  of  mystery. 
Just  as  many  common  words  have  a  long  history 
behind  them,  and  are  charged  with  associations  reach- 
ing far  back  into  antiquity,  so  many  incidents  of 
ordinary  human  experience,  and  a  fortiori  the  facts 
recorded  in  sacred  history,  are  rightly  regarded  as 
embodying  and  illustrating  eternal  truths  and  prin- 
ciples. On  this  subject  it  would  be  premature  to 
enlarge  at  this  point.  It  is  enough  for  the  present  to 
draw  attention  to  the  significance  of  St.  Luke's  state- 
ment, Then  opened  he  their  understanding^  that  they 
might  ^lnder  stand  the  scrip  tiires.  It  was  after  the 
resurrection,  when  the  Lord  Jesus  had  passed  into  the 
world  of  mystery  that  lies  beyond  death — it  was  then 
that  He  opened  the  eyes  of  His  chosen  disciples  to 
the  infinite  depth  of  Scripture,  teaching  them  that  the 
things  of  the  Spirit  can  only  be  spiritually  discerned1-, 
and  that  the  written  word  contains  a  revelation  which 
needs  to  be  approached  with  the  same  sense  of  in- 
sufficiency wherewith  in  the  days  of  His  flesh  Christ 
would  have  had  men  approach  Himself.  We  know 
by  sad  experience  that  the  mere  literary  or  scientific 
study  of  Scripture  has  often  left  us  utterly  dark  and 
barren.  The  real  moments  of  insight  and  spiritual 
elevation,  when  our  hearts  burned  within  us,  were 
those  in  which  we  were  conscious  that  we  were 
walking  with  the  risen  Christ  in  the  way,  and  holding 
communion  with  Him,  while  he  opened  to  us  the 
scriptures 2.  Thus  we  have  proved  the  truth  of 
St.  Paul's  aphorism,  If  any  man  think  that  he  knoweth 
anything,  he  knoweth  nothing  yet  as  he  ought  to  know. 
But  if  any  man  love  God,  the  same  is  known  of  him 3. 

Our  task  in  the  present  day  seems  to  be  that  of 
mediation  between  opposed  methods  of  Scriptural 
interpretation.  -While  we  welcome  gladly  and  eagerly, 
in  spite  of  the  temporary  pain  and  perplexity  which  it 

errors  in  detail  as  to  judge  of  the  capabilities  of  inductive  science  from 
Bacon's  "  Theory  of  heat." ' 
1  I  Cor.  ii.  14.  2  Luke  xxiv.  32.  3  I  Cor.  viii.  2,  3. 


vin]     THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      377 

costs  us,  all  the  light  that  historical  research  and  critical 
learning  can  throw  upon  the  structure  and  literary  form 
of  the  Old  Testament,  we  shall  reverently  endeavour 
to  do  justice  to  methods  of  using  Scripture  which 
the  apostles  and  saints  of  Jesus  Christ  have  taught  us 
to  be  profitable  and  based  on  true  conceptions  of  the 
character  of  the  written  word.  In  this  concluding 

o 

lecture  of  our  series  we  shall  consider,  first,  the 
light  which  is  shed  on  the  Old  Testament  by 
its  employment  in  the  New ;  and,  secondly,  the 
function  which  the  Old  Testament  seems  designed  to 
fulfil  under  our  present  circumstances.  In  a  word,  we 
shall  attempt  an  inquiry  into  the  present  use  of  the  Old 
Testament  in  the  Christian  Church. 


I. 

Speaking  generally,  the  New  Testament  seems  to 
ascribe  to  the  Old  Testament  three  main  character- 
istics : — 

i.  First,  it  insists  on  the  fragmentary  character  of 
the  revelation  contained  in  it.  The  divine  self-com- 
munication to  man  was  made  in  many  parts  (TroAf/ze/xS?). 
It  was  a  process  which  had  many  different  stages,  in 
each  of  which  however  the  continuity  of  revelation 
was  maintained.  This  is  tantamount  to  saying  that 
the  New  Testament  embodies  what  has  been  called 
*  a  strictly  historical  conception '  of  the  Old l.  The 
new  religion  recognized  that  it  was  rooted  in  the 
ancient  dispensation,  and  that  each  epoch  in  the  sacred 
history  of  Israel  had  been  a  preparation  for  the  next. 
There  was  no  single  stage  at  which  the  ultimate 
purpose  of  God  for  the  world  was  discerned  in  its 
completeness.  Types  and  prophecies  were  alike 
fragmentary:  each  foreshadowed  one  aspect  of  a  vast 
and  intricate  scheme  yet  to  be  disclosed,  a  scheme 
complex  as  the  universe  and  wide  as  human  life.  At 

1  Sanday,  The  Oracles  of  God,  p.  141. 


378      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

each  point  in  the  progressive  movement  of  the  world's 
education  faith  might  have  discerned  a  divine  thought. 
Accordingly  the  New  Testament  constantly  draws 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  utterance  contained  in  the 
Old  Testament  is  the  voice  of  God.  What  proceeded 
from  the  mouth  of  the  prophets  was  spoken  of  the 
Lord1',  the  promises  to  the  patriarchs,  the  tokens  of 
guidance  which  they  followed,  were  alike  vouchsafed 
by  Him  2 ;  ,the  commandments  of  the  Mosaic  Law  came 
from  Him3;  by  Him  were  foretold  the  blessings  of 
the  Messianic  age4.  Indeed  throughout  the  whole 
period  of  the  preparatory  dispensation  there  was 
a  continuous  self-communication  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
man,  a  progressive  unveiling  of  His  purposes,  a  constant 
indication  of  His  requirement5.  But  revelation  was 
at  each  stage  only  partial  and  incomplete.  It  has 
been  well  said  that  the  Bible  supplies  a  rule  that  is 
constantly  improving  on  itself,  and  that  later  editions 
of  the  rule  are  intended  to  antiquate  the  earlier  6.  The 
New  Testament  in  fact  already  sets  us  the  example 
which  modern  criticism  has  enforced — that  of  reading 
the  Old  Testament  with  discrimination,  with  readiness 
to  judge  the  part  in  the  light  of  the  whole,  and  to 
recognize  in  each  fragment  its  true,  but  not  more  than 
its  true,  value  and  function  in  relation  to  the  entire 
organism  of  which  it  forms  a  part. 

2.  Again,  the  New  Testament  contrasts  with  the 
simplicity  and  singleness  of  God's  self-revelation  in 
His  incarnate  Son  the  variety  of  methods  by  which  He 
manifested  Himself  to  His  ancient  people.  God  spake 
to  the  fathers  in  many  fashions  (noXvTpoTrcos)  as  well  as 
in  many  parts ;  and  this  statement  implies  that  the 
different  portions  of  the  Old  Testament  are  not  all  to 
be  used  in  the  same  way:  we  are  not  to  confound  law 
with  history,  prophecy  with  fact,  dreams  with  waking 

'  Matt.  i.  22  ;  ii.  15.  ?  Acts  iii.  25  ;  vii.  2,  3. 

3  Matt.  xv.  4.          4  2  Cor.  vi.  1 6  foil. ;  Heb.  i.  5  foil. ;  v.  5  foil. ;  vii.  21. 

5  Acts  xxviii.  25  ;  Heb.  iii.  7  ;  ix.  8  ;  x.  15. 

6  Bruce,  Apologetics t  p.  323.     Cp.  the  language  of  Heb.  viii.  13. 


vm]     THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      379 

realities,  poetical  anticipations  with  typical  events. 
Accordingly,  we  have  to  be  careful  as  to  the  extent  to 
which  we  insist  on  the  historical  element  in  the  Old 
Testament  as  literal  fact.  We  may  occasionally  be  in 
danger  of  misusing  what  was  given  us  for  another 
purpose.  Anticipations  of  the  Messiah  and  of  His 
work  may  not  only  have  been  foreshadowed  in 
historical  fact,  but  may  also  have  inspired  literary 
creations.  Thus  there  are  incidents  recorded  in  the 
Old  Testament  respecting  which  a  large  latitude 
of  opinion  is  surely  desirable.  Some,  for  instance, 
may  regard  the  story  of  Jonah  as  literally  true; 
others  see  good  reason  for  finding  in  it  an  alle- 
gorical  narrative  written  with  a  didactic  purpose, 
in  any  case  it  is  certain  that  the  word  7roAur/>67ra>y 
warns  us  against  dogmatic  statements  as  to  what  must 
be  the  nature  of  different  Old  Testament  books,  and 
also  against  unintelligent  and  undiscriminating  employ- 
ment of  them.  The  different  modes  of  divine  self- 
manifestation — through  dreams,  visions,  prophecies, 
oracles,  and  types,  or  through  the  ministry  of  an 
angel — will  repay  study,  and  will  quicken  our  sense  of 
the  condescension  with  which  Almighty  God  in  His 
communications  to  mankind  has  adapted  Himself  to 
very  varied  types  of  mind  and  stages  of  moral 
development.  We  are  far  too  apt  to  make  the  modern 
western  mind  the  standard  of  what  is  credible  not  only 
in  the  content,  but  in  the  manner  and  methods,  of 
revelation. 

3.  Once  more,  the  New  Testament  everywhere 
presupposes  the  riidimentary  character  of  the  old 
dispensation.  Our  blessed  Lord  Himself  draws  atten- 
tion in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  to  the  inherent 
defects  of  the  ancient  religion,  its  self-accommodation  to 
the  low  moral  standard  of  those  whom  it  was  designed 
to  instruct,  discipline,  and  elevate  *.  His  example  and 
that  of  His  apostles  teaches  us  that  we  are  to  consider 
the  drift  of  the  whole  bible  in  judging  the  Old  Testa- 

1  Matt.  v.  19  foil. ;  xix.  8. 


380      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

ment ;  we  are  to  be  filled  with  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel, 
and  make  it  the  one  standard  of  measurement  in 
estimating  conduct  and  character,  frankly  recognizing 
defect  where  it  exists1,  and  not  explaining  away 
what  obviously  conflicts  with  Christian  principles,  but 
attending  fairly  to  the  difference  of  time  and  circum- 
stances which  made  imperfect  character  relatively  good 
and  admirable.  We  must  remember  how  just  is  the 
distinction  between  immorality  and  crude  morality, 
between  transgression  of  a  high  standard  and  con- 
formity to  a  low  one 2.  I  have  already  pointed  out 
that  no  Christian  writer  has  a  stronger  sense  at  once 
of  the  continuity  of  revelation  and  of  the  moral  im- 
perfection that  characterized  its  earlier  stages  than 
Irenaeus.  As  he  truly  says  :  Una  salus  et  unus  Deus. 
Qiiae  autem  formant  hominem  praecepta  multa,  et  non 
pauci  gradus  qiti  ducunt  hominem  ad  Deum 3. 

One  point  is  worthy  of  particular  attention  in  this 
connexion — viz.  the  general  character  of  the  New 
Testament  verdict  on  the  Mosaic  Law.  The  question 
has  been  raised  '  how  far  the  transposition  of  the  Law 
as  it  lies  before  us  in  the  Pentateuch,  from  the  time  of 
Moses  to  the  time  of  Ezra/  affects  the  New  Testament 
estimate  of  Mosaism  4  ?  Now  we  have  already  seen 
reasons  for  supposing  that  legal  discipline  of  some 
kind  was  a  constant  element  of  Mosaism,  present  in  it 
from  the  first.  What  is  to  be  noted  here  is  that  the 
critical  conclusions  which  assign  a  relative  inferiority 
to  the  Law  on  the  ground  of  its  comparatively  late 
codification  entirely  fall  in  with  the  teaching  of  apostolic 
writers  as  to  the  place  and  function  of  law  in  Israel's 
education.  Professor  Bruce  points  this  out  with  great 
force.  If  we  bear  in  mind  St.  Paul's  teaching  in 

1  e.g.,  the  l philo-leviticar  spirit  of  the  chronicler,  which  is  a  religious 
defect  in  view  of  such  a  passage  as  Heb.  vii.  18  (Bruce,  Apologetics, 
p.  324).     Bruce  draws  attention  to  other  defects,  for  instance  the  spirit 
of  vindictiveness,  the  hatred  of  foreigners,  the  tendency  to  self-righteous- 
ness, &c.,  which  were  characteristic  of  Judaism. 

2  Bruce,  op.  cit.  p.  329.  3  Haer.  iv.  9.  3. 
*  Bruce,  op.  cit.  pp.  275  foil.,  308. 


vm]     THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      381 

regard  to  the  temporary  and  economic  purpose  of  the 
Law,  or  that  of  the  writer  to  the  Hebrews  in  regard  to 
the  weakness  and  unprofitableness  thereof^,  we  shall  be 
prepared  to  admit  that  the  critical  theory  tends  entirely 
to  confirm  the  apostolic  view  of  the  Law.  If  the  ver- 
dicts of  the  New  Testament  'hold  good  as  against 
a  law  emanating  from  Moses,  a  fortiori  they  hold  good 
against  a  law  which  came  into  force  nearly  a  millennium 
later.  .  .  .  The  important  principle  enunciated  by  Paul, 
that  the  law  was  subordinate  to  the  promise  and  came 
in  after  it  and  between  it  and  the  [fulfilment  of  the] 
promise,  obviously  holds  on  the  critical  hypothesis.' 
Our  general  conception  of  the  Law  is  the  same. 
Accepting  the  critical  view  however,  we  recognize  that 
the  rigid  legal  discipline  to  which  Israel  was  subjected 
came  at  a  period  in  its  history  later  than  was  formerly 
supposed  ;  and  the  words  of  St.  Paul  apply  even  more 
forcibly  to  the  Judaistic  than  to  the  Mosaic  stage  of 
Hebrew  history.  Before  faith  came  we  were  being  kept 
in  ward,  shut  up  under  the  law  unto  the  faith  which 
should  afterwards  be  revealed*.  The  rudimentary 
purpose  and  function  of  the  Law  is  a  truth  practically 
unaffected  by  critical  disputes ;  and  certainly  we  have 
no  reason  to  be  surprised  that  the  legal  discipline  was 
so  protracted  in  duration,  when  we  consider  how 
effective  it  was  in  its  final  result. 

The  New  Testament  then  recognizes  the  frag- 
mentary character  of  the  old  dispensation,  the  variety 
of  the  methods  observed  in  the  divine  self-revelation, 
and  the  rudimentary  nature  of  the  discipline  which 
gradually  prepared  Israel  for  the  coming  of  its  pro- 
mised Saviour.  At  the  same  time  we  cannot  overlook 
the  fact  that  Christ  and  His  apostles  assign  to  the 
Old  Testament  a  unique  and  inviolable  authority3. 


1  Heb.  vii.  18.  2  Gal.  iii.  23. 

3  Cp.  Dalman,  Das  Alte  Testament  ein  Wort  Gottes,  p.  9 :  '  Bei  Jesus 
wie  bei  Paulus  geht  offenbar  Hand  in  Hand  mit  einer  klaren  Einsicht  in 
die  Unzulanglichkeit  der  alttestamentlichen  Offenbarung  eine  dadurch 
nicht  erschiitterte  Ueberzeugung  von  der  go'ttlichen  Autoritat  nicht  nur 


382      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

/  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil.  For  verily  I  say 
unto  you,  Till  heaven  and  earth  pass,  one  jot  or  one  tittle 
shall  in  no  wise  pass  from  the  law,  till  all  be  fid  filled x. 
The  scriptiire  cannot  be  broken 2.  Even  its  smallest 
fragment  must  be  fulfilled-,  i.e.  it  must  be  shown  to 
occupy  its  rightful  place ;  must  be  brought  under  the 
true  point  of  view,  and  its  significance  in  relation  to 
the  whole  vindicated.  The  same  truth  is  implied  in 
the  apostolic  vindication  of  prophecy.  The  distinctive 
character  of  the  prophetic  word  of  God  is  that  no 
prophecy  is  of  any  private  interpretation'^.  It  has  more 
than  one  application ;  it  has  a  deeper  and  wider 
reference  than  is  apparent  on  the  surface.  A 
careful  study  does  indeed  show  us  that  for  Christ 
there  was  to  some  extent  *  a  Bible  within  the  Bible  V 
The  books  to  which  He  most  commonly  refers  are 
Deuteronomy,  the  Psalms,  and  Isaiah — those  in  a 
word  which  are  most  full  of  the  Messianic  element. 
His  first  public  discourse  at  Nazareth  was  based  on 
a  passage  of  the  later  Isaiah ;  the  ministry  of  teaching 
and  healing  placed  Him  as  it  were  in  line  with  the 
ancient  prophets ;  the  martyr-spirit  numbered  Him 
with  the  righteous  men  of  old  whose  sorrows  and  hopes 
breathe  in  the  Psalter;  His  consciousness  of  Messiah- 
ship  and  His  passion  for  righteousness  found  expres- 
sion more  often  in  the  utterances  of  the  saints  and 
prophets  than  in  those  of  the  historians  or  legalists  of 
ancient  Israel.  There  can  be  no  doubt  however  as  to 
the  general  attitude  of  Christ  towards  the  Jewish  Scrip- 
tures. He  speaks  freely  of  Moses,  perhaps  we  might 
say  more  often  as  a  supreme  authority  than  as  an 
author;  He  refers  to  him  as  leader,  legislator,  and 
writer  5,  but  always,  it  would  seem,  and  necessarily,  in 

der  im  A.  T.  ausdriicklich  als  von  Gott  stammend  bezeichneten  Worte, 
sondern  des  Schriftwortes  iiberhaupt.' 

1  Matt  v.  17,  18.  2  John  x.  35.  3  2  Pet.  i.  20. 

*  Cheyne,  Aids  to  the  Devout  Study  of  Criticism,  p.  155  note.  Cp. 
Bruce,  Apologetics,  p.  363.  Cheyne  notices  that  the  O.  T.  Canon  was 
'  not  finally  settled  in  all  its  parts  in  our  Lord's  time.'  Cp.  Valeton, 
Christiis  und das  A.  T.  p.  30. 

6  Cp.  Mark  xii.  29  ;  Luke  xvi.  29  ;  John  v.  46 ;  vii.  19. 


vm]     THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      383 

accordance  with  the  current  literary  conceptions  of  His 
time,  and  with  the  declared  purpose  of  His  mission1. 
We  are  not  at  present  concerned  with  the  manner  of 
our  Lord's  quotations,  but  only  with  the  general 
character  of  authority  which  He  attributes  to  the 
ancient  Scriptures.  He  speaks  of  them  as  if  they 
discharged  an  organic  function,  and  must  ever  hold 
a  permanent  place,  in  the  religion  of  which  He  was  the 
founder2.  While  He  points  out  the  defective  elements 
in  the  old  dispensation,  and  supersedes  the  detailed 
precepts  of  the  Law  by  principles  of  far-reaching 
simplicity,  He  never  fails  to  give  the  impression  that 
He  recognizes  in  the  Old  Testament  the  abiding 
word  of  God.  As  the  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith* 
He  points  us  to  the  ancient  Scriptures  as  the  food 
which  nourished  His  own  spiritual  life  and  gave  due 
expression  to  His  own  Messianic  consciousness  ;  as  the 
soil  in  which  the  gospel  of  salvation  had  its  roots,  and 
in  which  the  treasure  of  eternal  life  lay  hid.  Salvation, 
He  declared,  is  of  the  Jews*-. 

We  may  now  pass  to  the  consideration  of  the  prin- 
ciples which  appear  to  guide  our  Lord  and  the  New 
Testament  writers  in  their  references  to  the  Old.  And 
here  it  is  important  to  remember  that  in  the  time  of  Christ 
there  already  existed  among  the  scribes  traditional 
rules  of  interpretation,  which  were  of  high  antiquity 
and  unquestioned  authority.  The  scribes  were  in  fact 

1  Cp.  Kohler,  Uber  Berechtigung  der  Kritik  des  A.  T.  p.  13.     Christ, 
he  says,  must  have  used  the  ordinary  literary  language  of  His  day  if  He 
was  to  make  Himself  intelligible  to  His  hearers,  and  if  He  was  not  to 
exceed  the  limits  of  His  Messianic  vocation  by  giving  instruction   on 
points  of  natural  knowledge.     The  references  to  Daniel  (Matt.  xxiv.  15) 
or  to  David  (Matt.  xxii.  41  foil. ;  cp.  Acts  ii.  24  foil.)  are  most  reasonably 
explained  on  this  principle.     To  the  same  effect  Valeton,  Christus  un'd 
das  A.  T.  p.  37;  Delitzsch,  New  Co?nm.  on  Genesis  [Eng.  Tr.],  vol.  i.  p.  21 . 

2  John  v.  39. 

3  Heb.  xii.  2.     Cp.  Valeton,  Christus  und  das  A.  T.  pp.  20,  21.     See 
also  an  admirable  lecture  by  Prof.  G.  A.  Smith,  The  preaching  of  the 
O.  T.  to  the  Age,  pp.  n,  12. 

4  See  Oettli,  op.  cit.  p.  22.     Valeton,  Christus  und  das  A.  T.  p.  12, 
remarks   that    so    close    is    the    inner  connexion   and    correspondence 
between  the  words  of  Christ  and  the  language  of  the  O.  T.  as  almost  to 
justify  the  paradox,  '  In  His  teaching  there  is  nothing  new  but  Himself.' 


384      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

guided  in  their  treatment  of  the  canonical  Scriptures 
by  two  chief  aims :  first,  the  systematic  development 
and  establishment  of  the  Law,  which  had  now  become 
the  central  shrine,  so  to  speak,  of  Jewish  religion ; 
second,  the  didactic  manipulation  of  the  historical 
books.  Hence  there  arose  on  the  one  hand  the 
Halachah,  or  customary  law,  the  general  object  of 
which  was  to  protect  the  Law,  by  a  fence  of  minor 
restrictions,  from  even  the  chance  of  infringement ; 
and  on  the  other  hand  the  Haggadah,  i.  e.  narrative  or 
legend  by  which  the  Old  Testament  history  was 
enlarged,  illustrated,  or  homiletically  enforced.  The 
basis  of  both  methods  was  Midrask,  or  regular  exegesis 
of  the  biblical  text,  and  they  presupposed  the  principle 
that  inspired  writings  can  contain  nothing  that  is 
arbitrary,  fortuitous,  or  indifferent,  since  Scripture 
both  in  its  organic  unity  and  in  the  diversity  of  its 
contents  reflects  the  infinite  being  of  its  Author.  And 
indeed  if  it  be  granted  that  Scripture  comes  from  God 
in  a  special  and  unique  sense,  it  is  only  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  even  single  words  of  Scripture  may 
conceal  a  multitude  of  thoughts  and  contain  truths  of 
inexhaustible  significance. 

Two  methods  then  of  dealing  with  the  sacred  text 
were  already  current.  By  the  time  of  our  Lord  the 
Halachah,  or  exegetical  expansion  of  the  Law,  had 
already  resulted  in  the  formation  of  a  vast  body 
of  casuistry  under  which  the  original  Law  of  Moses 
was  in  danger  of  being  practically  buried,  while 
the  Haggadah  had  produced  a  mass  of  legendary 
accretions  by  which  the  biblical  history  was  expanded, 
for  purposes  of  moral  and  religious  instruction1. 

1  For  an  account  of  the  Halachah  and  Haggadah  see  The  Literary 
remains  of  Emanuel  Deutsch,  ch.  i.  Also  his  article,  'Versions,  ancient 
(Targum),'  in  the  Diet,  of  the  Bible.  The  description  of  Haggadah 
merely  as  '  narrative '  needs  some  qualification.  It  really  implies  the 
amplification  or  imaginative  development  of  the  Old  Testament  history, 
especially  of  that  which  is  not  directly  expressed  in  the  text,  but  is  sup- 
posed to  be  indirectly  hinted  at.  Edersheim,  Life  and  Times  of  Jes^ts 
the  Messiah,  p.  n,  note  2,  remarks  that  Halachah  might  be  described 
as  the  apocryphal  Pentateuch,  and  Haggadah  as  the  apocryphal  prophets. 


vm]     THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      385 

The  Chronicles  supply  an   example  of  Haggadah  in 
dealing  with  the  history  of  the  Jewish   kings.     The 
Chronicler  enlarges  the  material  contained  in  earlier 
sources  by  a  whole  class  of  narratives    intended   to 
illustrate  his  favourite  thesis,  viz.  the  merit  acquired  by  |\ 
monarchs  who  zealously  maintained  the  priestly  ritual1' 
of  the    temple.      He  was    doubtless    actuated    in   his 
treatment  of  the  history  by  a  desire  to  meet  the  actual 
needs  of  his  age,  but  the  result  is  that  his  work,  as 
we   have    already   seen,    has    only   a    qua^si-historical 
character1.     It  is  a  didactic  work,  which  is  inspired  byl 
a  purely  religious  and  moral  aim,  and  in  which  imagina- ' 
tion  is  allowed  large  play. 

It  will  suffice  to  mention  another  method  of  interpre- 
tation which  undoubtedly  plays  a  large  part  in  apostolic 
exegesis,  and  may  be  illustrated  from  Christ's  own 
teaching,  namely  the  method  of  Sodh,  by  which  the 
mystical  or  allegorical  sense  of  a  passage  was  elicited. 
This  seems  on  the  whole  to  have  been  more  charac- 
teristic of  Hellenistic  than  of  Palestinian  Judaism. 
The  Hellenists  in  their  endeavour  to  amalgamate 
Greek  thought  with  Hebrew  ideas  of  revelation,  found 
the  allegorical  method  ready  to  their  hand,  since  it  was 
already  in  use  both  among  Platonists  and  Stoics.  The 
true  principle  that  underlies  this  method  will  engage 
our  attention  presently. 

Now  a  careful  study  of  our  Lord's  usual  mode  of 
teaching  makes  it  evident  that  in  the  matter  of  scrip- 
tural interpretation  and  exposition,  as  in  other  points, 
He  occasionally  condescended  to  adapt  Himself  to  the 
customs  of  His  time.  We  cannot  fail  to  observe, 
however,  a  wide  difference  between  the  teaching  of  our 
Lord  and  of  the  scribes  in  two  main  respects — indeed 
the  divergence  was  already  obvious  to  those  who  first 

1  Schiirer,  The  Jewish  People  in  the  Time  of  Christ,  §  25.  Observe 
the  references  to  Midrash  (A.  V.  Story]  in  2  Chron.  xiii.  22,  xxiv.  27, 
the  latter  passage  embracing  the  entire  history  of  the  kings.  'The 
compilers  of  chronicles  seem  to  have  used  such  promiscuous  works 
treating  of  biblical  personages  and  events,  provided  they  contained  aught 
that  served  the  tendency  of  the  book '  (Deutsch,  /.  <:.). 


C  C 


386      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

listened  to  His  discourses.  In  the  first  place,  Christ 
appears  to  set  aside  the  method  of  Halachah  as  quite 
secondary,  whereas  with  the  scribes  it  had  become  of 
primary  importance.  '  Legal  Judaism,'  says  Schiirer, 
1  laid  the  chief  stress  upon  correctness  of  action,  and 
comparatively  free  play  was  therefore  permitted  in  the 
sphere  of  religious  notions1.'  The  scribes  in  fact 
represent  a  tendency  diametrically  opposed  to  that  of 
true  prophetism.  What  Frederick  Maurice  has  said 
of  the  scholastic  theology  of  the  Greek  Church  in  the 
seventh  and  eighth  centuries  might  well  apply  to 
the  scribes :  '  Notions  about  God  more  or  less  occu- 
pied them,  but  God  Himself  was  not  in  all  their 
thoughts2/  With  them  holiness  was  too  often 
treated  as  something  merely  technical  and  external, 
and  the  religious  life  was  cramped  and  fettered  by 
innumerable  petty  restrictions.  In  a  word,  the  scribes 
represent  that  reactionary  spirit  which  at  first  sight 
seems  to  give  a  discouraging  aspect  to  the  post-exilic 
stage  of  Israel's  religion.  Jesus  Christ,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  recognized  by  the  conscience  of  His  con- 
temporaries as  a  prophet  of  God.  He  lifted  high  once 
more  the  standard  of  prophetism ;  righteousness  and 
the  love  of  God,  judgment,  mercy,  and  faith  3 — these 
were  the  theme  of  His  preaching.  He  left  the 
Halachah  untouched,  and  scarcely  noticed.  To  Him 
the  one  thing  of  supreme  importance  was  that  men 
should  have  true  thoughts  about  God  and  His  ^equire- 
ment.  Accordingly — to  notice  the  second  poj  *t — the 
teaching  of  Jesus  was  authoritative,  and  not  like  that  of 
the  scribes.  It  was  characteristic  of  the  Haggaa  ih  that 
though  it  practically  represented  what  we  shoulc  :all  the 

1  The  Jewish  People  in  the  Time  of  Christ,  §  25.    Deutsch  in  the  Diet, 
of  the  Bible,  s.  v.  ' Versions '  (vol.  iii.  p.  1641),  says:  'The  aim  of  the 
Haggadah  being   the   purely  momentary  one   of  elevating,  comforting, 
edifying  its  audience  for  the  time  being,  it  did  not  pretend  to  possess  the 
slightest  authority'     Schechter,  Studies  in  Judaism,  p.  420,  says  :  '  The 
theological  side  of  Judaism,  as  well  as  its  ideal  aspirations  and  Messianic 
hopes,  find  their  expression  in  the  Agadah? 

2  The  Religions  of  the  World,  p.  23. 
8  Matt,  xxiii.  23  ;  cp.  Luke  xi.  42. 


vm]     THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      387 

dogmatic  and  moral  theology  of  Judaism,  it  was  never- 
theless comparatively  unauthoritative.  It  was  nothing 
more  than  oral  instruction ;  it  represented  the  acumen 
and  insight  of  individual  teachers,  and  possessed  only 
the  weight  which  might  happen  to  attach  to  their 
utterances.  It  was  taken  by  the  hearers  in  fact  for 
what  it  was  worth.  But  the  very  teaching  which  the 
scribes  made  matter  of  Haggadah  was  in  our  Lord's 
view  essential  and  primary.  Consider  His  first  dis- 
course in  the  synagogue  of  Nazareth.  It  opens  with 
a  proclamation,  ineffably  gracious  and  tender,  of  God's 
character  and  ways  of  Working.  Its  theme  is  grace  ; 
its  character  prophetic ;  its  illustrations  are  taken  not 
from  the  Law  but  from  two  episodes  of  Hebrew 
history  speaking  the  one  of  judgment,  the  other  of 
mercy1.  In  the  manner  of  Haggadah  is  the  brief 
comment  on  each,  illustrating  the  method  of  God's 
redemptive  action.  But  most  significant  is  the  personal 
reference  to  Himself  as  the  anointed  of  Jehovah,  and  the 
calm  majesty  of  the  declaration,  Verily  I  say  unto  you. 
No  wonder  that  in  Jesus  men  instinctively  recognized 
a  teacher  come  from  God2,  whose  word  was  with  power 3. 
The  theme  of  His  teaching  imparted  its  own  sublime 
simplicity  to  His  method  of  expounding  Scripture.  He 
freely  employed  the  Old  Testament  as  illustrating  the 
truths' which  He  revealed  about  God,  but  He  spoke  on 
the  strength  of  an  immediate  knowledge  of  Him  whose 
glory  ^  nd  kingdom  He  proclaimed;  He  taught  not  on 
autho-  ,ty,  but  with  authority ;  not  as  a  professional 
teachf  *  who  has  studied  religious  traditions,  but  as 
a  pro[  iet  who  by  direct  intuition  knows  God. 

Thi  i,  speaking  generally,  the  very  object  of  our 
Lord's  coming  determined  the  method  in  which  He 
employed  the  ancient  Scriptures.  To  Him  all  that 
made  for  righteous  conduct  and  for  truer  conceptions 
of  the  divine  character  was  of  primary  importance ;  to 
all  that  the  scribes  had  overlooked  or  treated  with 
indifference  He  assigned  its  rightful  prominence. 

1  Luke  iv.  18-27.  2  John  iii.  2.  3  Luke  iv.  32. 

C  C  2 


388      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

Haggadah  was  in  a  word  His  favourite  method  of 
teaching,  but  while  '  the  rabbins  interpreted  the  Scrip- 
tures to  accord  with  the  traditions  of  the  elders,  Jesus 
interpreted  them  to  accord  with  the  mind  of  God  their 
author  V  The  sacred  liberty  which  is  the  characteristic 
gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit2  appears  in  the  very  manner  of 
Christ's  citations  from  the  Old  Testament.  And 
herein  lies  another  point  of  contrast  between  Him  and 
the  scribes,  whose  anxious  enslavement  to  the  letter 
not  only  blinded  them  to  the  inner  sense  of  Scripture 
and  to  the  daily  and  hourly  fulfilment  of  it  which  was 
going  on  before  their  eyes,  but  actually  robbed  them 
of  essential  reverence  for  the  word  of  God.  They 
honoured  Jehovah  with  their  lips,  but  their  heart  was 
far  from  him 3. 

It  is  clear  then  that  our  Lord  and  His  apostles 
freely  sanctioned  by  their  own  example  the  current 
principles  of  exegesis,  but  it  is  also  manifest  that  both 
in  the  subject-matter  of  their  teaching,  in  modes  of 
illustration,  and  in  the  observance  of  moral  proportion, 
they  produced  an  impression  on  their  hearers  different 
in  kind  from  that  which  was  derived  from  the  teaching 
of  the  scribes.  In  endeavouring,  however,  to  elicit 
principles  from  the  practice  of  Christ  and  the  New 
Testament  writers,  we  have  to  bear  in  mind  that  they 
used  the  current  methods  of  exegesis  in  the  way  most 
suitable  to  the  capacity  of  each  particular  class  of 
hearers  and  most  appropriate  to  the  subject  of  their 
discourse.  Moreover,  the  apostles  display  differences 
corresponding  to  their  individual  temperament  and 
training :  St.  Peter,  St.  James,  and  St.  Jude  inclining 
to  the  method  of  Haggadah ;  St.  Paul  to  that  of 
Halachah  with  free  use  of  allegorism  ;  while  St.  John 
and  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  are  distin- 


1  Briggs,  Biblical  Study,  p.  314.     I  wish  to  express  my  obligations  to 
this  useful  work,  on  which  some  of  the  following  paragraphs  are  largely 
based. 

2  2  Cor.  iii.  17. 

3  Matt.  xv.  8.    See  Valeton,  Christus  und  das  A.  T.  pp.  13  foil. 


vm]     THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      389 

guished  by  their  preference  for  this  latter  method, 
whether  in  its  Palestinian  or  in  its  Hellenistic  form. 

What,  then,  are  the  most  striking  features  in  the  New 
Testament  exegesis  of  the  Old  ? 

i.  First,  we  notice  its  remarkable  breadth  and 
freedom.  Our  Lord  and  His  apostles  adapt  their  use 
of  the  Old  Testament  to  the  requirements  and  capaci- 
ties of  those  whom  they  address.  They  deal  with 
Scripture  in  ways  which  the  popular  teaching  of  the 
scribes  had  already  rendered  familiar.  There  are 
passages  in  the  Gospels  which  are  at  least  closely 
analogous  to  the  method  of  Halachah.  Such  would  be 
the  a  fortiori  argument  of  St.  John  x.  34-36  :  Is  it  not 
written  in  your  law,  I  said,  Ye  are  gods  ?  If  he  called 
them  gods,  ^lnto  whom  the  word  of  God  came  .  .  .  say  ye 
of  him,  whom  the  Father  hath  sanctified  and  sent  into 
the  world,  Thou  blasphemest,  because  I  said,  I  am  the  Son 
of  God?  Such  again  is  the  illustrative  combination  of 
references  to  the  Law  and  to  the  former  and  later  Pro- 
phets in  St.  Matt.  xii.  3  foil.,  where  our  Lord  is  defend- 
ing against  the  Pharisees  the  action  of  His  disciples  in 
plucking  the  ears  of  corn  on  the  sabbath  day1.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  is  nothing  in  our  Lord's  teaching 
that  corresponds  to  the  casuistry  of  the  scribes  ;  indeed 
it  is  only  in  controversy  with  the  learned  that  He  even 
appears  to  use  the  method  Q{  Halachah.  The  large 
majority  of  His  references  to  the  Law  are  intended  to 
enforce  great  principles  of  morality,  and  seem  calcu- 
lated to  qualify  the  paramount  estimation  in  which  the 
Law  was  held  by  the  Jews.  Thus  many  of  the  quota- 
tions, especially  from  the  book  of  Deuteronomy,  are 
ethical  rather  than  legalistic,  and  it  is  significant  that  in 
dealing  with  a  lawyer,  our  Lord  takes  occasion  to 
enunciate  in  two  passages  from  the  Torah  the  law  of 
love  in  its  widest  form,  adding  to  them  the  comment 
that  on  the  two  commandments  of  love  towards  God 


1  Aug.  de  util.  cred.  6  refers  to  this  passage  as  a  simple  use  of  Scripture 
secundum  historiam. 


390      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

and  love  towards  one's  neighbour  hang  all  the  law  and 
the  prophets 1. 

Of  the  apostolic  writers,  St.  Paul  especially  shows 
partiality  for  Halachah.  Thus  in  Rom.  iv.  3-6  we 
have  an  argument  on  the  subject  of  faith,  applying 
a  general  principle  to  an  individual  case,  which  is  in 
the  manner  of  Halachah 2.  So  in  i  Cor.  ix.  9  (cp. 
i  Tim.  v.  1 8)  a  passage  of  Deuteronomy  (xxv.  4)  is 
appealed  to  as  implying  the  acknowledged  rule  of 
equity,  that  service  merits  reward.  Again,  such 
a  combination  of  passages  as  is  used  to  illustrate  or 
prove  a  point  in  Rom.  iii.  10  foil,  is  in  accordance  with 
the  principles  of  the  Halachah 3. 

More  suitable,  however,  than  Halachah  for  purposes 
of  popular  teaching  would  be  Haggadah,  that  is  ex- 
pansive comment  on  passages  of  sacred  Scripture, 
or  free  imaginative  application  of  them.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  apostolic  writers  were  divinely 
guided  in  their  use  of  this  method,  so  markedly  do 
they  avoid  the  idle  or  absurd  legends  which  the  Hag- 
gadah  of  the  scribes  had  woven  around  the  sacred 
story.  Thus  St.  James  illustrates  the  nature  of  faith 
from  the  cases  of  Abraham  and  Rahab,  and  enforces 
the  lesson  of  patience  from  the  experience  of  Job4. 
Indeed  it  may  be  said  generally  that  all  references  to 
Old  Testament  passages  and  incidents  as  typical  or 
prophetic  of  Christ  and  His  kingdom  are  in  the  style 
of  Haggadah.  Conspicuous  instances  would  be  the 
Messianic  citations  in  St.  Paul's  Epistles  and  the  de- 
scription of  Melchizedek,  or  the  catalogue  of  the  heroes 
of  faith  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  so  far  as  these 

1  Matt.  xxii.  35-40 ;    cp.  Luke  x.  25-28.     On  Matt.  xxii.  40  Valeton, 
Christus  nnd  das  A.  T.  p.  16,  remarks  :  '  Hier  ist  mehr  als  ein  einfaches 
Zitat  aus  Deut.  6.  5  und  Levit.  19.  18;  hier  ist  wieder  eine  kleine  Probe 
von  der  gottlichen  Freiheit,  die  nicht  an/lost,  sondern  erfiillt? 

2  A  somewhat  similar  argument  from  'the  law'  (in  this  case  Isa.  xxviii. 
II,  12)  is  found   in  i  Cor.  xiv.  21  foil.     It  is  possible  that  the  word 
diBaa-KaXia  in  the  N.  T.  signifies  Halachic  teaching. 

3  Compare  a  somewhat  similar  combination  of  passages  to  prove  a  point 
in  James  ii.  8-13. 

4  James  ii.  21  foil.;  v.  n. 


vni]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      391 

enforce  or  illustrate  principles  of  moral  conduct  and 
laws  of  divine  action  l.  In  these  cases  passages  of  the 
Old  Testament  are  employed  not  strictly  speaking  as 
predictive,  but  as  illustrative  of  New  Testament  facts 
or  truths.  A  great  number  of  St.  Paul's  references  to 
the  Old  Testament  are  of  this  description  :  for  instance, 
the  argument  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  which 
turns  upon  the  use  of  the  phrase  Abraham  and  his 
seed2,  or  the  quotation  from  the  68th  Psalm  in  Eph. 
iv.  7,  8.  St.  Paul  is  not  here  using  the  Old  Testa- 
ment passage  as  a  proof-text,  but  as  a  free  illustration 
of  a  particular  principle  of  the  Christian  system3,  It 
should  be  added  that  in  one  passage  of  St.  Paul  and 
in  two  other  passages  of  the  New  Testament  we  find 
reference  made  to  legends  supplementary  of  the  Old 
Testament  history  and  probably  already  embodied  in 
extra-canonical  books  4. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  parable  (mashat]  is 
commonly  found  in  the  ancient  Midrashim,  it 
be  questioned  whether  our  Lord's  habit  of  teaching 
in  parables  may  not  be  regarded  as  a  particular  appli- 
cation and  transfiguration  of  the  Haggadah  method  ; 
for  His  aim  ever  appears  to  be  didactic,  the  parables 
and  the  direct  references  to  the  Old  Testament  being 
intended  to  illustrate  the  redemptive  action  of  God, 
or  laws  of  His  moral  government.  Such  is  his 
reference  to  the  story  of  the  flood  and  the  fate  of  Lot's 
wife,  which  are  used  to  enforce  a  solemn  spiritual 
lesson5.  Indeed,  generally  speaking, our  Lord's  refer- 
ences to  the  incidents  of  Old  Testament  history  do  not 
enable  us  to  judge  how  far  He  lays  stress  on  their 
historical  importance.  He  is  not  concerned  with 

1  See  especially  Rom.  x.  18  (Ps.  xix.  4),  and  Rom.  x.  6  foil.  (Deut.  xxx. 

II  foil.). 

2  Gal.  iii.  16  (Gen.  xvii.  7).     Cp.  Driver  in  Expositor  for  Jan.  1889, 
pp.  1 8  foil. 

3  See  Driver,  Sermons  on  the  O.  T.  pp.  198,  199. 

4  I  Cor.  x.  4 ;  2  Tim.  iii.  8 ;  2  Pet.  ii.  4  ;  Jude  9  foil.     Cp.  Acts  vii.  22, 
53  ;  Gal.  iii.  19;  Heb.  ii.  2.   So  Gal.  iv.  29,  'persecuted'  seems  to  be  based 
on  a  Midrashic  development  of  Gen.  xxi.  9.     See  Lightfoot,  ad  loc. 

5  Matt.  xxiv.  37  ;  Luke  xvii.  32. 


392      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

history  as  such  ;  and  the  analogy  of  His  silence  on 
points  of  science  would  suggest  that  He  neither 
endorses  nor  repudiates  the  ordinary  conceptions  of 
His  time  in  regard  to  the  quality  of  the  ancient  narra- 
tives. In  any  case  it  is  clear  that  He  only  employs 
them  homiletically  for  purposes  of  spiritual  edification. 
He  does  not  apparently  intend  to  teach  positively  on 
points  which  belong  to  the  domain  of  scientific  criti- 
cism 1.  But  there  is  something  significant  in  the  fact 
that  the  employment  of  the  Old  Testament  history 
by  Christ  is  supplemented  by  the  system  of  parabolic 
instruction,  while  His  perfect  simplicity  in  teaching 
tacitly  discountenances  the  extravagance  which  often 
characterized  the  Haggadah  of  the  scribes.  He  avoids 
such  subjects  as  would  divert  the  minds  of  His  hearers 
without  instructing  them ;  He  has  an  eye  to  their 
moral  and  spiritual  needs ;  He  uses  that  form  of 
teaching  which  is  best  adapted  to  make  great  truths 
understood  by  the  meanest  capacity2. 

The  freedom  of  the  New  Testament  writers  in  their 
use  of  the  Old  is  most  strikingly  displayed  in  their 
tendency  to  employ  the  method  of  Sodk  or  allegorism, 
a  point  which  needs  passing  illustration.  Instances 
in  St.  Paul's  epistles  will  immediately  occur  to  our 
minds3;  we  shall  recall  the  Hellenistic  colour  of  the 


1  On  this  difficult  subject  the  writer  would  practically  agree  with  the 
following  statement  :  '  He  who  came  from  heaven  in  order  to  reconcile  us 
to  God,  speaks  in  regard  to  the  things  of  ordinary  earthly  life— and  to 
these  belongs  the  formal  side  of  Old  Testament  knowledge — the  speech 
belonging  to  His  earthly  environment,  to  His  time  and  to  His  people. 
He  does  not  move  at  an  inaccessible  height  above  the  heads  of  men,  but 
lives  in  their  very  midst.     The  eternal  becomes  a  child  of  His  time.  .  .  . 
He  had  a  task  quite  other  than  that  of  busying  Himself,  or  instructing 
men,  in   regard  to   questions  which  are  discussed  in  the  schools  and 
for  the  specialist   may  be  of  the  highest   importance,  but  which  are 
unprofitable  for  the  life  of  the  soul,  and  in  view  of  His  life's  work  are  so 
infinitesimally  small,  indeed  are  scarcely  worth  even  mention.'     Valeton, 
Chris tus  und  das  A.  T.  pp.  28  foil. 

2  See  some  wise  and  beautiful  thoughts  on  preaching  in  Bp.  Wilson's 
Sacra  Privata  (ed.  Oxford,  1840),  pp.  243  foil. 

3  St.  Paul  uses  it  specially  in  the  Epistles  to  Corinth,  possibly  owing 
to  the  connexion  of  that  Church  with  Apollos.     See  e.  g.  I  Cor.  x.  I  foil. 
Cp.  Gal.  iv.  22  foil. 


VIH]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      393 

Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  with  its  skilful  treatment  u 
of  the  figure  of  Melchizedek,  and  its  insistence  on 
the  symbolic  structure  and  ceremonial  of  the  ancient 
sanctuary ;  we  shall  remember  the  predominance  of 
symbolism  in  the  Apocalypse.  Our  blessed  Lord 
may  be  thought  to  give  sanction  to  this  method  in 
the  general  tenour  of  His  teaching,  which  implies 
that  the  whole  of  the  Old  Testament  is  prophetic 
and  figurative,  foreshadowing  the  mysteries  of  His 
person  and  kingdom.  But  it  cannot  be  said  with  . 
truth  that  He  freely  employs  the  method  of  alle-i 
gory  as  generally  understood.  He  rather  confines 
Himself  to  setting  before  the  Church  an  open  door,  in 
pointing  to  the  essential  mystery  of  Scripture  as  the 
work  of  the  Wisdom  of  God ;  and  in  accepting  or 
ascribing  to  Himself  titles  bearing  far-reaching  Old 
Testament  associations,  such  as  Lamb  of  God,  King  of 
Israel,  Son  of  David,  Prophet  of  Nazareth,  Son  of  Man, 
the  Good  Shepherd,  the  True  Vine,  the  Corner-Stone, 
the  Messiah,  the  Wisdom  of  God.  It  is  indeed  some- 
times difficult  to  distinguish  between  the  allegorical  use 
of  the  Old  Testament  to  illustrate  a  fact,  and  the  Hag- 
gadistic  use  of  it  to  enforce  a  spiritual  law.  Augustine 
only  gives  one  instance  of  allegorism  from  our  Lord's 
own  teaching  :  namely  the  reference  to  Jonah's  deliver- 
ance as  a  sign  or  type  of  the  resurrection1.  But  no 
writer  is  more  conscious  of  the  typical  and  symbolic 
character  of  the  Old  Testament  viewed  as  a  whole. 

2.  Enough  has  been  said  to  illustrate  the  freedom 
of  the  New  Testament  in  its  references  to  the  Old. 
The  next  point  that  claims  our  attention  is  the  moral 
import  of  the  quotations.  Our  Lord,  it  has  been  said, 
deals  with  the  words  of  Scripture  as  '  living  words  of 
God  to  man  bearing  upon  human  conduct 2.'  It  is 
scarcely  accidental  that  His  first  recorded  quotation  is 
from  Deuteronomy  viii.  3  :  Man  shall  not  live  by 
bread  alone,  b^lt  by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the 

1  Matt.  xii.  39,  40 ;  xvi.  4.     Cp.  Aug.  de  util.  cred.  8. 

2  Briggs,  Biblical  Study,  p.  315. 


394      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

mouth  of  God1.  In  the  hands  of  the  scribes  the  Old 
Testament  religion  was  not  indeed  a  dead  thing,  but  it 
had  lost  any  capacity  of  further  development  and  ex- 
pansion. It  could  not  in  any  way  satisfy  the  desire  of 
the  true  Israel  for  a  new  word  of  God,  a  fresh  revela- 
tion of  truth.  Our  Lord  and  His  apostles,  on  the 
other  hand,  quickened  the  very  letter  of  Scripture  by 
pointing  to  the  living  personality  behind  it.  The 
words  of  the  living  and  eternal  God  were  shown  to  be 
full  of  enduring  vitality  and  continuous  significance. 
The  phrase  It  is  written  in  our  Lord's  mouth  implies 
that  each  scripture  appealed  to  is  not  a  lifeless  formula 
of  law,  but  the  revelation  of  a  living  personality  and 
character 2.  What  the  living  God  inspires  lives  in  Him, 
lives  unto  Him,  lives  for  all  who  abide  in  communion 
with  Him.  St.  Paul  even  speaks  as  if  Scripture  were 
endued  with  personality.  From  the  first  it  foresaw 
the  purpose  of  God  ;  it  preached  the  gospel  beforehand 
unto  Abraham3.  It  accompanies  the  people  of  God 
through  the  ages  as  a  monitor  and  witness,  sustaining 
the  spirit  of  patience,  quickening  expectation,  and 
kindling  hope4.  Like  the  incarnate  Word  Himself, 
the  written  word  reveals  its  true  character  only  to  those 
in  whom  faith  lives  and  the  sense  of  need  has  been 
awakened.  To  the  Pharisee  and  the  scribe  Scripture 
was  practically  a  fetich  ;  to  the  cold  and  critical  wisdom 
of  this  world  it  is  a  dead  thing  to  be  dissected  and 
analyzed,  or  a  common  thing  that  may  be  rejected  and 
despised,  or  approved  and  patronized  ;  to  faith  and  the 
spirit  of  prayer  Scripture  is  the  very  voice  of  God 
which  warns  or  encourages,  the  very  eye  of  God  which 
watches  and  guides  the  soul.  As  employed  indeed  by 
our  Lord  and  His  apostles,  the  function  of  Scripture 

1  Matt.  iv.  4. 

2  Cp.  Valeton,  Christus.  und  das  A.  T.  p.  18  :  '  Durch  ihn  jedes  Teilchen 
der  Schrift  auf  seinen  rechten  Platz  kommt :  das  Kleine,  vielleicht  lange 
iiberschatzt,  wird  klein  :    das  Grosse,  vielleicht  wie  der  von  Gott  auser- 
sehene  Eckstein  (cp.  Matt.  xxi.  42),  lange  von  den  Menschen  verachtet, 
wird   gross.     Er  bringt   Leben  und   Bewegung :   er  bringt  Kpia-is ;    die 
Schriften  werden  "  erfiillt."  ' 

3  Gal.  iii.  8.  *  Rom.  xv.  4. 


vm]     THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      395 

stands  in  close  relation  to  their  entire  system  of  dealing 
with  human  souls.  The  tendency  of  Pharisaism  was 
to  bring  men  into  leading-strings,  '  to  leave  as  little 
as  possible  free  to  the  individual  conscience,  but  to 
bring  everything  within  the  scope  of  positive  ordin- 
ance V  The  free  play  of  individuality,  the  development 
of  personal  character,  was  utterly  remote  from  the 
range  of  their  ideas.  Even  the  ideals  of  prophecy 
were  to  them  of  secondary  interest.  Their  one  aim 
was  to  secure  by  a  comprehensive  discipline  the  prin- 
ciple of  technical  holiness.  They  were  blind  leaders  of 
the  blind11  inasmuch  as  they  had  lost  all  sense  of  pro- 
portion in  their  estimation  of  Scripture.  They  clung 
to  what  was  temporary  and  transient ;  they  made  what 
was  little  great,  what  was  morally  indifferent  all-impor- 
tant, while  they  overlooked  the  broad  tendency  of 
Scripture  as  a  whole,  and  thus  lost  any  sense  of  a  con- 
tinuous divine  utterance,  and  of  a  law  written  not  on 
tables  of  stone  but  in  the  heart  of  man.  Of  our  Lord,  on 
the  contrary,  it  is  a  truism  to  say  that  He  cherishes  and 
reverences  personality,  that  He  ever  aims  at  awaken- 
ing and  cultivating  individuality.  He  founded  a  Church 
that  was  to  be  a  school  of  individual  character,  in 
which  the  diversified  capacities  of  each  soul  were  to  be 
freely  developed 3.  And  the  usage  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment generally,  to  say  nothing  of  the  explicit  teaching 
of  Christ,  shows  that  in  the  work  of  moral  and  spiritual 
education  the  study  of  the  Old  Testament  discharges 
a  necessary  function.  It  is  the  light  of  the  individual 
conscience;  it  ministers  to  individual  needs;  it  is  an  aid 
to  individual  perfection  4.  But  such  a  use  of  Scripture 
presupposes  a  living  relationship  to  God,  correspon- 
dence with  the  gift  of  His  Spirit,  and  an  earnest  purpose 
to  ascertain  His  mind  and  will5.  And  thus  the  ulti- 

1  Wellhausen,  Sketch  of  the  History  of  Israel  and  Judah,  p.  186. 

2  Matt.  xv.  14  ;  xxiii.  1 6.  3  Cp.  Col.  i.  28  ;  Eph.  ii.  10. 

4  2  Tim.  iii.  17. 

5  Aug.  de  util.  cred.  13  :  'Quidquid  est,  mihi  crede,  in  Scripturis  illis 
altum  et  divinum  est :  inest  omnino  veritas.  et  reficiendis  instaurandisque 
animis  accommodatissima  disciplina;   et  plane  ita  modificata,  ut  nemo 


396      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

mate  proof  that  a  divine  voice  speaks  in  Scripture  lies 
in  the  region  of  spiritual  experience. 

The  central  point,  however,  of  Christ's  teaching 
is  that  the  revelation  recorded  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  mainly  a  revelation  of  human  duty.  If 
we  set  aside  those  instances  in  which  our  Lord 
reasons  with  the  learned,  and  accommodates  Himself 
apparently  to  their  standpoint  and  to  their  pre- 
conceptions, it  is  striking  how  closely  analogous  His 
teaching  is  to  that  of  the  prophets.  The  doctrine 
of  God's  Fatherhood  stands  in  the  forefront  of  His 
teaching,  but  He  ever  brings  out  its  moral  import 
as  implying  an  ideal  of  sonship  by  which  the  ethical 
law  of  the  Old  Testament  is  transfigured.  The  old 
obligations  are  not  abolished,  but  are  spiritualized. 
The  eternal  principles  of  righteousness  are  extricated 
from  their  temporary  kernel.  Christ  recognizes  the 
element  of  accommodation  in  the  ancient  Law,  and 
His  main  work  is  to  impart  to  His  hearers  a  point  of 
view  which  will  enable  them  to  discern  for  themselves 
between  the  provisional  and  the  permanent  elements 
in  the  old  dispensation,  and  to  teach  them  that  the 
supreme  requirement  of  God  is  not  the  righteousness 
of  conformity  to  outward  law,  but  the  holiness  of 
a  heart  purified  by  love  towards  God  and  towards 
man.  The  lost  sense  of  spiritual  proportion  was  for 
ever  re-established  in  the  statement  that  this,  the  law 
of  love,  is  the  law  and  the  prophets^. 

3.  Once  more,  Christ  Himself  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment writers  represent  the  Old  Testament  as  con- 
stituting an  organic  whole,  to  which  the  Messiah  and 
His  kingdom  are  the  key.  They  look  upon  the  entire 
preparatory  dispensation  as  a  shadow  of  good  things 
to  come.  The  ordinances  imposed  under  the  ancient 
system  and  the  incidents  described  by  sacred  historians 
were  divinely  overruled  in  such  a  way  as  to  prefigure 

inde  haurire  non  possit  quod  satis  est,  si  modo  ad  hauriendum  devote  ac 
pie,  ut  vera  religio  poscit,  accedat.' 
1  Matt.  vii.  12  ;  cp.  xxii.  37  foil. 


vin]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      397 

the  mysteries  and  circumstances  of  the  new  covenant. 
It  was  of  Christ  that  Moses  wrote  l ;  it  was  the  suffer- 
ings and  glories  of  Christ  that  prophets  unconsciously 
described  2.  Of  the  apostolic  writers  each  one  seems 
to  give  special  prominence  to  one  particular  aspect  of 
the  prophetic  character  ascribed  to  the  Old  Testament. 
St.  Paul  discerns  in  the  history  of  Abraham  the  as- 
sertion of  that  principle  of  faith  which  preceded  the 
discipline  of  the  Law,  and  lies  at  the  root  of  the 
relationship  between  God  and  man  which  is  revealed 
in  Christ 3.  St.  Peter  claims  for  the  Christian  Church 
titles  which  imply  that  she  is  the  heir  of  the  covenant- 
promises  and  privileges  of  God's  ancient  people 4. 
The  writer  to  the  Hebrews  points  to  the  fulfilment  in 
Christ  both  of  the  law  of  sacrificial  worship  and  of  the 
purificatory  rites  of  Judaism.  The  ancient  ceremonial 
system  was  a  shadow  or  outline-sketch  of  heavenly 
realities  manifested  in  Christ5.  In  the  Apocalypse 
St.  John  invests  the  incarnate  Son  with  the  glories  of 
the  Messianic  kingdom,  unfolds  the  judgments  of  God 
and  the  fortunes  of  the  Church  in  symbolism  derived 
from  the  prophets,  and  describes  the  bliss  of  the 
redeemed  in  imagery  transferred  from  the  earthly 
Jerusalem  to  the  heavenly  sanctuary  and  the  city  of 
God. 

In  this  case  again  the  justification  of  the  method 
employed  in  dealing  with  the  Old  Testament  lies  in 
the  appeal  to  spiritual  experience.  The  prophetic 
character  of  the  ancient  Scriptures  is  vindicated  by  the 
skill  which  so  applies  them.  '  The  spiritual  sense,'  it 
has  been  said,  '  is  its  own  proof,  as  a  key  by  opening 
a  complicated  lock  sufficiently  proves  that  it  has  been 
designed  for  it 6.'  There  is  no  need  to  enlarge  on  this 
point,  which  will  be  dealt  with  later.  Let  it  suffice  to 

1  John  v.  46.     Our  Lord's  references   to   the  fulfilment   of  the   Old 
Testament  .in  His  own  person  and  in  the  conditions  of  His  earthly  life 
are  amply  illustrated  by  Valeton,  Christus  und  das  A.  T.  pp.  22  foil. 

2  I  Pet.  i.  ii.  3  Rom.  iv ;  Gal.  iii. 
4  i  Pet.  ii.  9.  5  Heb.  x.  i. 

6  Jukes,  The  Types  of  Genesis,  p.  xv. 


398      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

observe  that  this  character  of  the  old  covenant  corre- 
sponds to  the  predominance  of  prophetism  in  Israel's 
religion.  For  the  creative  element  in  Hebrew  religion 
was  a  real  and  continuous  self-communication  of  God 
to  men ;  the  one  Spirit  was  ever  at  work,  enabling 
those  whom  He  inspired  to  anticipate  His  purposes, 
and  to  read,  each  in  his  measure,  the  divine  thoughts 
for  mankind  ].  Thus  '  there  is  not  one  New  Testa- 
ment idea  that  cannot  be  conclusively  shown  to  be 
a  healthy  and  natural  product  of  some  Old  Testament 
germ,  nor  any  truly  Old  Testament  idea  which  did  not 
instinctively  press  towards  its  New  Testament  fulfil- 
ment2.' It  is  indeed  characteristic  of  a  divine  religion 
that  its  main  ideas  do  not  suddenly  break  in  upon 
human  thought ;  the  wisdom  of  God  prepares  the  soil 
in  which  these  ideas  shall  take  root  and  flourish ;  it 
fosters  anticipations  which  may  welcome  the  truths 
ultimately  to  be  disclosed;  it  impresses  even  upon 
external  incidents  and  ordinances  tokens  of  what  is  to 
come.  The  stage  of  promise,  preceding  that  of  law, 
is  a  comprehensive  prophecy,  real  though  dimly  under- 
stood, of  the  goal  towards  which  the  whole  religion 
tends.  And  there  is  truth  in  the  suggestive  remark 
of  Augustine  that  the  whole  Old  Testament  is  a 
promise  in  figurative  form 3.  It  is  only  when  we 
endeavour  to  grasp  the  meaning  of  St.  Paul's  phrase 
the  fulness  of  Christ 4  that  we  can  do  justice  to  the 
many-sidedness  of  the  Old  Testament.  In  it  the 
various  aspects  of  the  Incarnation  are  presented  in 
fragmentary  forms,  'Christ  in  His  offices ;  in  His 
character;  in  His  person;  Christ  in  His  relations  to 
God  and  man;  Christ  in  His  body  the  Church  ;  Christ 
as  giving  to  God  all  that  God  required  from  man ; 
Christ  as  bringing  to  man  all  that  man  required  from 

1  Cp.  Schultz,  O.  T.  Theology,  i.  p.  54. 

2  Ibid.  p.  52. 

3  Serm.  iv.  (de  Jacob  et  Esau}  9:  'Vetus  enim  Testamentum  est  pro- 
missio  figurata;   Novum  Testamentum  est  promissio  spiritaliter   intel- 
lecta.' 

*  Eph.  i.  23. 


vm]     THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      399 

God ;  Christ  as  seen  in  this  dispensation  in  suffering ; 
Christ  as  seen  in  the  next  dispensation  in  glory ; 
Christ  as  the  first  and  the  last,  as  all  and  in  all  to  His 
people  V  m  whom  all  the  promises  of  God  are  yea,  and 
in  him  Amen 2. 

Enough  has  been  now  said  to  illustrate  the  method 
observed  by  our  Lord  and  the  New  Testament  writers 
in  their  use  of  the  ancient  Scriptures.  Their  example 
teaches  us  that  the  true  key  to  the  Old  Testament  is 
possessed  only  by  those  who  have  the  mind  of  Christ  , 
and  who  are  guided  by  the  same  Spirit  that  '  spake  by 
the  prophets.'  There  are  indeed  one  or  two  passages 
in  which  our  Lord  seems  to  suggest  principles  of 
scriptural  interpretation  which  could  be  safely  em- 
ployed only  by  Himself.  Such  is  His  answer  to  the 
Sadducees  as  touching  the  dead  that  they  rise^.  Here 
we  have  an  instance  of  interpretation  that  necessarily 
transcends  any  human  method,  and  that  raises  far- 
reaching  questions  as  to  the  degree  in  which  ordinary 
minds  can  penetrate  the  significance  of  Scripture. 
Only  He  who  knew  God  with  an  absolute  knowledge 
could  thus  reveal  a  mystery  necessarily  involved  in 
covenant-relationship  to  Him. 

The  authoritative  tone  with  which  both  here  and  in 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  Christ  elucidates  the  inner 
meaning  of  the  ancient  law  constitutes  an  element  in 
His  claim  to  be  more  than  man,  and  it  may  well  check 
the  temper  of  confidence  with  which  men  pass  judg- 
ment on  the  contents  of  the  Old  Testament,  or  criticize 
the  reasoning  of  the  New.  We  cannot  for  a  moment 
suppose  that  with  His  unique  spiritual  insight  our  Lord 
could  mistake  the  real  character  of  the  Scriptures  to 
which  He  so  solemnly  appeals.  That  He  penetrates 
to  the  very  heart  of  their  meaning,  that  He  assigns  to 
each  part  of  them  the  exact  significance  they  were 

1  Jukes,  The  Law  of  the  Offerings,  p.  10.     Cp.  Rev.  i.  17  ;  Col.  iii.  II. 

2  2  Cor.  i.  20.  3  I  Cor.  ii.  16. 

*  Mark  xii.  26  foil.    Valeton,  Christus  itnd  das  A.  T.  p.  43,  makes  some 
good  remarks  on  this  passage. 


4oo      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

divinely  intended  to  convey,  that  He  grasped  un- 
erringly their  general  drift  and  their  precise  bearing  on 
His  own  work  and  mission,  it  is  simply  impossible  to 
doubt.  And  although,  as  we  have  seen,  He  does  not 
discard  methods  of  interpretation  which  were  in  general 
use  at  the  period  of  His  active  ministry,  He  so  employs 
them  as  to  rescue  the  Old  Testament  from  the  misuse 
it  had  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  scribes,  and  to 
restore  to  the  written  word  its  rightful  vitality  and 
authority.  Thus  to  His  Apostles  and  to  His  believing 
Church  Christ  is  verily '  the  light  of  all  Scripture.' 

By  way  of  summary  it  may  be  said  that  both  Christ 
and  His  apostles  use  the  Scriptures  with  a  certain 
prophetic  freedom.  In  the  contrast  between  their 
teaching  and  that  of  the  scribes  is  implied  the  revival 
of  the  spirit  of  prophecy.  The  word  of  God  again 
comes  to  Israel,  again  has  free  course.  It  is  significant 
indeed  that  the  Old  Testament  is  not  expressly  called 
'  the  word  of  God'  in  the  New.  In  the  Gospels  '  the 
word  of  God '  means  the  oral  delivery  of  the  gospel. 
It  is  not  something  written,  but  a  living  seed  implanted 
by  the  preaching  of  the  divine  message  in  tihe  heart  of 
the  hearer.  Nay,  Jesus  Christ  Himself  is  in  utterance 
and  act  the  living  sermo  Dei1.  In  the  Old  Testament 
the  Word  or  Wisdom  of  God  lives  as  the  soul  in  the 
body ;  and  .every  scribe  instructed  unto  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  must  bring  forth  out  of  his  treasure  things  new 
as  well  as  things  old2.  Accordingly  the  apostolic 
writers  display  a  certain  flexibility  in  their  use  of 
exegetical  methods  and  in  their  practical  applications 
of  Old  Testament  Scripture,  as  if  to  teach  us  that 
those  who  cling  to  rigid  rules  of  exposition  may  fall  far 
short  of  ascertaining  the  mind  of  the  Spirit.  Practically 
the  New  Testament  points  us  to  the  unction  from  the 
Holy  One3  as  the  only  unfailing  source  of  spiritual 
truth. 

1  Cp.  MeinhQld,jfcra.y  und  das  A.  T.  p.  60.     Consider  the  use  of  \6yos 
in  James  i.  18  ;  i  Pet.  i.  23. 

"  Matt.  xiii.  52.  3  i  John  ii.  20. 


vm]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      401 


II. 

What  has  been  said  respecting  the  use  of  the  Old 
Testament  in  the  New  is  after  all  only  introductory  to 
the  main  subject  under  consideration  in  the  present 
lecture.  Our  aim  is  to  ascertain  if  possible  the  present 
value  and  permanent  function  of  the  Old  Testament 
in  the  Christian  Church,  especially  in  view  of  those 
critical  conclusions  which  have  so  largely  modified 
traditional  opinions  respecting  the  character  of  the 
ancient  Scriptures. 

First  however,  in  view  of  these  conclusions,  there  is 
yet  a  final  word  to  be  said  bearing  upon  the  historical 
character  of  the  Old  Testament  records,  and  upon  the 
existence  of  a  so-called  *  mystical '  sense  in  Scripture. 

We  have  already  dealt  at  some  length  with  the 
historical  element  in  the  Old  Testament,  its  nature  and 
its  extent.  But  the  point  now  to  be  insisted  on  is 
that  we  must  recognize  frankly  the  impossibility  of 
precisely  determining  the  historical  value  of  the  narra- 
tives in  which  Israel's  history  is  contained.  When 
the  character  of  the  different  materials  is  carefully 
sifted,  and  when  ordinary  historical  tests  are  employed, 
it  is  manifest  that  elements  are  present  in  the  Old 
Testament  which  are  historical  only  in  form,  and  that 
the  history  has  been  in  part  coloured  by  a  poetical 
imagination,  in  part  interspersed  with  semi-historical 
matter,  with  legal  precedents  in  narrative  shape,  and 
even  with  free  creations  of  fancy1.  The  modern 
historical  spirit  arrives  on  different  grounds  at  general 
conclusions  which  were  already  reached  by  a  somewhat 
more  subjective  process  in  early  times.  In  the  fourth 
book  of  the  de  Principiis  Origen  defends  his  theory 

1  The  caution  conveyed  in  some  wise  words  of  Prof.  Valeton  is  im- 
portant :  'A  historico-critical  verdict  upon  a  narrative  is  not  equivalent 
to  a  decision  upon  the  historical  character  of  the  events  narrated.  Even 
though  all  the  accounts  relating  to  the  foundation  of  Rome  are  relegated 
to  the  sphere  of  legend,  yet  none  the  less  Rome  was  founded.'  (Quoted 
from  an  Academical  address  in  Christus  und  das  A.  T.  p.  40.) 

Dd 


402      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

of  the  spiritual  sense  of  Scripture  by  a  free  criticism 
of  the  Old  Testament  narratives.  It  may  be  worth 
while  to  illustrate  his  position  by  a  few  quotations. 
'  The  Scripture,'  he  says,  '  has  interwoven  in  the  history 
what  did  not  actually  happen ;  in  some  places  what 
could  not  possibly  have  happened ;  in  others  what 
might  possibly  have  happened,  but  certainly  did  not 
happen1.'  In  a  subsequent  passage  Origen  points  out 
that  the  narrative  of  the  fall  is  purely  figurative. 
It  conveys  spiritual  truths  under  the  appearance  of 
history2.  It  is  true  that  the  strictly  historical  narra- 
tives are  more  numerous  than  the  figurative 3 ;  but 
a  fruitful  cause  of  error  is  the  temper  which  refuses  to 
penetrate  beneath  the  letter  to  the  inner  mystical  sense 
of  Scripture  4,  beneath  the  corporeal  or  fleshly  husk  to 
the  spiritual  kernel5.  It  is  clear  that  Origen  attached 
no  special  value  to  the  purely  historical  study  of 
Scripture,  though  he  does  not  by  any  means  over- 
look the  literal  sense.  What  is  chiefly  to  be  noticed 
is  his  readiness  to  acknowledge  the  presence  of 
a  non-historical  element  in  the  Old  Testament.  He 
recognizes,  however,  that  even  the  semi-historical 
portions  of  Scripture  are  full  of  inspired  teaching,  and 
that  their  very  existence  in  the  Old  Testament  proves 
that  the  purpose  of  the  Bible  is  not  to  impart  natural 
knowledge  that  may  be  otherwise  acquired,  but  to 
teach  spiritual  truth  6.  Now  modern  criticism  is  chiefly 
concerned  to  determine  the  character  and  value  of  the 
literary  materials  contained  in  the  Old  Testament ; 

1  de  Princ.  iv.  15.     Cp.  similar  statements  in  chh.  19,  20,  and  a  strong 
passage  on  the  ceremonial  law  in  horn.  mi.  ad  Lemt.  §  5. 

2  Ibid.  1 6  Sia  8oKovo~r)s  Icrroptas  KCU  ov  oreo/zariKcos'  yeyevrj^pevr^s. 

Ibid.  19  TToXAco  yap  nXfiovd  eVri  ra  Kara  rrjv  io~Topiav  aXrjdevofjievaj  TWV 
7rpo(TV(pav6fVT<ii)V  yvpv&v  TrvevfiariKoiv. 
4  Ibid.  9. 

Ibid.  II  (crap£  TTJS  ypa(^>rjs)  ;  14  (TO  aa)fJ.a.TLKOv  TTJS  ypa(prj$). 
^  Orig.  in  Gen.  horn.  xv.  i  describes  Scripture  as  'secundum  disciplinam 
divinae  eruditionis  aptatam,  neque  tantum  historicis  narrationibus 
quantum  rebus  et  sensibus  mysticis  servientem.'  Cp.  in  Jerem.  horn. 
XXXIX  :  OVK  ecrrtv  icora  ev  »)  /xia  Kepaia  yeypappevr)  eV  rfj  ypa(pfj  f/ris  TOIS  e Triora- 
p.€vois  xprj(r()ai  TTJ  fivva/zei  TWV  •ypa///ttarcov  OVK  cpyd^erai  TO  eaur^s  epyov.  Cp. 

Aug.  de  util.  cred.  9  s.  fin. 


vin]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      403 

it  considers  indications  of  date  and  authorship;  it 
estimates  the  time  that  separates  the  origin  of  a  docu- 
ment from  the  events  recorded  therein  ;  it  examines  the 
inner  consistency  of  the  narrative,  and  its  harmony  with 
facts  otherwise  ascertained  :  and  no  Christian  student 
of  the  present  day  can  afford  to  neglect  the  ascertained 
conclusions  of  critical  science.  But  on  the  other  hand, 
when  he  has  frankly  recognized  the  distinction  between 
what  is  historical  and  what  is  semi-historical  or  imagi- 
native, he  will  place  himself  on  a  level  with  ancient 
Christianity  in  his  endeavour  to  ascertain  the  spiritual 
and  personal  bearing  of  what  he  reads.  Augustine 
had  little  or  no  opportunity  of  acquiring  linguistic  or 
critical  knowledge,  but  there  is  something  strangely 
modern  in  the  tone  of  the  following  passage  taken 
from  the  first  chapter  of  the  de  Genesi  ad  liter  am. 
'In  all  the  sacred  books/  he  says,  'our  duty  is  to 
examine  what  eternal  truths  are  intimated  therein, 
what  facts  are  narrated,  what  future  events  foretold, 
what  duties  we  are  commanded  or  advised  to  perform. 
Accordingly  in  the  narrative  of  actual  facts  inquiry  is 
made  whether  all  things  are  to  be  accepted  only  in 
a  figurative  sense,  or  whether  they  are  also  to  be 
maintained  and  defended  as  having  literally  occurred. 
For  that  there  are  not  things  which  must  be  figuratively 
understood,  no  Christian  will  venture  to  affirm,  if  at 
least  he  pays  heed  to  the  apostle's  words  Now  all  these 
things  happened  unto  them  in  a  figure  (i  Cor.  x.  n)  ; 
and  to  the  text  in  Genesis,  and  they  twain  shall  be  one 
flesh — a  text  which  presents  to  us  the  great  mystery  of 
Christ  and  of  the  Church  V  Here  Augustine  recognizes 
the  need  of  discrimination  between  what  is  historical 
and  what  is  merely  figurative.  From  a  different  starting- 
point  the  modern  Christian  student  arrives  at  a  similar 
point  of  view.  In  detail  the  conclusions  of  the  ancient 
and  of  the  modern  student  would  differ.  But  both,  in 
so  far  as  they  were  true  to  the  limitations  of  their  know- 
ledge, would  surely  admit  that  it  is  not  only  a  great 

1  de  Gen.  ad  lit.  i.  i. 
D  d  2 


404      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

blunder,  but  a  serious  failure  in  truthfulness,  to  insist 
overmuch  on  the  historical  element  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  to  build  indiscriminately  on  narratives  which 
have  been  conclusively  shown  to  be  utterly  different  in 
literary  quality  and  in  historic  worth.  This  cautious 
position  is  entirely  consistent  on  the  one  hand  with 
a  profound  and  reverent  sense  of  the  spiritual  precious- 
ness  of  all,  even  of  what  is  only  apparently  and  not 
really  historical,  and  on  the  other  with  a  frank  suspense 
of  judgment  in  regard  to  details.  We  have  already 
pointed  out  that  it  is  possible  to  overrate  the  import- 
ance of  certainty  on  many  points  of  criticism ;  indeed, 
it  appears  probable  that  some  questions  now  in  dis- 
pute will  practically  prove  to  be  beyond  the  range 
of  satisfactory  solution.  It  is  enough  that  we  can 
use  the  Old  Testament  narratives  for  purposes  of 
moral  illustration ;  while  those  which  are  true  to  fact 
teach  us  what  Almighty  God  has  actually  wrought  or 
allowed,  those  which  are  parabolic  or  imaginative 
reveal  sometimes  the  anticipations  and  ventures  of  faith, 
sometimes  the  thoughts  of  the  inspiring  Spirit.  Like 
the  parables  of  our  Lord,  they  illustrate  the  dealings 
of  God  with  men,  or  the  progress  of  man's  spiritual 
education,  or  the  workings  of  divine  providence,  or  the 
judgments  that  fall  on  sin  and  the  blessings  which 
crown  righteousness.  It  is  a  priori  probable  that  in 
the  literature  of  a  religion  of  which  prophecy  is  the 
characteristic  feature,  there  should  be  a  considerable 
element  of  what  is  simply  parabolic  and  figurative.  If 
we  follow  the  method  of  the  New  Testament  writers 
we  shall  use  the  Old  Testament  stories  mainly  for  the 
purpose  of  spiritual  and  moral  edification,  considering 
(to  use  Augustine's  phrase)  quae  ibi  aeterna  intimentur ; 
the  spiritual  depth  and  sublimity  of  such  narratives  as 
that  of  Jacob's  dream  at  Bethel,  or  that  of  the  heavenly 
feast  and  vision  by  which  the  divine  covenant  with 
Israel  was  sealed,  is  practically  unaffected  by  con- 
siderations as  to  their  precise  character.  It  suffices 
that  they  convey  intimations  of  God's  character,  His 


vin]     THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      405 

discriminating  providence,  His  purposes  for  mankind, 
His  ways  of  dealing  with  the  individual  soul,  which 
have  ..formed  an  integral  element  in  the  spiritual  educa- 
tion of  our  r^ce.  These  and  such-like  things  are 
written  for  our  admonition,  and  as  Augustine  elsewhere 
says,  we  must  diligently  ponder  their  meaning  *  until 
the  interpretation  is  brought  to  bear  upon  the  kingdom 
of  love  V  For  the  end  of  God's  ways  is  the  sanctifica- 
tion  of  man  through  a  saving  knowledge  of  Him. 

The  existence  and  rationale  of  a  '  secondary '  or 
'  mystical '  sense  in  Scripture  next  claims  attention. 
This  is  a  question  forced  upon  us  not  only  by  the 
universal  habit  and  tradition  of  the  Catholic  Church— 
a  fact  which  it  would  be  supremely  foolish  and  pre- 
sumptuous to  ignore — but  also  by  the  express  teaching 
of  Scripture  itself2.  In  their  vindication  of  the  claims 
of  biblical  criticism  and  exegesis  the  humanists  and  the 
early  reformers  insisted  upon  the  principle  that  *  Scrip- 
ture should  be  its  own  interpreter,  and  that  it  was  not 
to  be  interpreted  by  tradition  or  external  authority  V 
Now  it  is  this  very  principle  that  justifies  the  recogni- 
tion of  a  mystical  sense  in  the  Old  Testament.  It  is 
not  merely  the  case  that  the  New  Testament  writers 
habitually  treat  the  ancient  Scriptures  as  symbolic  and 
prophetic  in  the  widest  sense.  There  is  a  certain  con- 
stancy in  the  employment  of  imagery  derived  from  nature 
or  from  Israel's  history  which  implies  that  both  are 
sacramental,  that  is,  that  they  embody  in  local,  visible, 
and  material  forms  and  incidents  the  realities  which 
belong  to  a  spiritual  and  eternal  order.  We  have 
already  noticed  that  the  spiritual  sense  of  Scripture 
is  practically  its  own  proof,  but  it  is  desirable  to  indicate 

1  de  doc.   iii.    15:    'Servabitur  ergo   in   locutionibus   figuratis    regula 
huiusmodi,  ut  tarn  diu  versetur   diligent!  consideratione   quod  legitur, 
donee  ad  regnum  caritatis  interpretatio  perducatur.' 

2  See  an  article  on  'The  mystical  interpretation  of  Holy  Scripture,'  in 
the   Church   Quarterly  Review,    no.    43   (April,    1886)  ;    the    Bampton 
Lectures  for  1824,  by  the  Rev.  J.  J.  Conybeare,  on  'The  history  and 
limitations  of  the  secondary  and  spiritual  sense  of  Scripture';  Stanton, 
The  Jewish  and  the  Christian  Messiah,  pp.  184  foil. 

3  Briggs,  Biblical  Study,  p.  331. 


406      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

briefly  two  independent  grounds  of  reason  on  which 
the  practice  of  mystical  interpretation  ultimately  rests. 
Now  it  might  be  fairly  argued  that  the  very  fact 
that  the  Jewish  mind  displayed  a  tendency  to  allegorize 
points  to  the  presence  of  a  considerable  element  of 
allegory  in  the  Hebrew  writings  themselves.  But  in 
order  to  escape  a  possible  charge  of  petitio  principii  it 
is  better  to  defend  the  method  now  in  question  by 
other  considerations.  And  first,  there  evidently  under- 
lies it  a  sense  of  the  inexhaustible  significance  of 
language  when  applied  to  subjects  of  spiritual  contem- 
plation, or  when  employed  as  a  medium  of  divine  self- 
communication  to  man.  Human  language  is  obviously 
inadequate  as  a  vehicle  of  the  thoughts  of  God  ;  it  is 
at  best  a  sign  pointing  to  the  thing  signified  and 
leading  us  back  at  one  step  to  the  sphere  of  nature 
and  human  life,  in  which  God  reveals  Himself  by 
means  of  the  concrete  language  of  outward  fact l. 
The  fault  of  the  rabbinical  methods  of  dealing  with 
the  letter  of  Scripture — methods  which  culminated  in 
the  system  of  the  Cabbala — was  twofold  :  on  the  one 
hand  they  ignored  the  human  element  in  the  Old 
Testament,  forgetting  that  the  letter  was  human 
though  the  spirit  was  divine ;  on^the  other,  they  were 
content  with  the  manipulation  of  the  letter  instead  of 
passing  beyond  it  into  the  broad  fields  of  nature  and 
history  -.  The  extravagances  of  mystical  interpreta- 
tion have  in  some  instances  perhaps  been  due  to  these 
mistakes ;  in  others,  doubtless,  to  a  defective  percep- 
tion of  the  progressive  character  of  revelation  3.  More- 
over, extravagance  was  closely  allied  to  arbitrariness, 
which  even  Origen  appears  to  recognize  in  his  admis- 
sion that  the  mystical  sense  is  not  always  certainly  or 
safely  ascertainable  4.  The  fact  is  that  the  study  of  the 

1  Cp.   Newman,    University    Sermons,    p.    268,    and    the    suggestive 
remarks  of  Mozley,  University  Sermons ',  pp.  134  foil. 

2  Cp.  Briggs,  op.  tit.  p.  302. 

3  e.g.,  Aug.  de  doc.  Hi.  12  insists  that  the  morally  defective  actions  of 
Old  Testament  characters  are  all  figurative. 

de  Princ.  ix    on  p.kv  oiK.ovofj.iai  etVi    rives    /xucrriKai    brfKov^vat.  Sia  TU*V 


vm]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      407 

written  word,  regarded  as  a  revelation  of  the  divine 
mind,  needs  to  be  supplemented  by  devout  contempla- 
tion of  the  things  and  facts  which  human  language  only 
imperfectly  symbolizes.  Augustine,  after  carefully  distin- 
guishing between  signa  propria  and  signa  translata,  that 
is,  between  language  literal  and  language  metaphorical, 
insists  that  a  deeper  knowledge  of  things  is  necessary 
for  comprehending  the  significance  of  scriptural  terms. 
Reruni  ignorantia,  he  says,  facit  obscuras  figuratas 
locutiones^.  In  the  language  of  Scripture  a  real  though 
imperfect  impression  is  conveyed  to  man  of  the  works 
in  which  the  eternal  power  and  godhead  of  the  Creator 
are  made  known.  And  possibly  one  of  the  reasons 
why  our  Lord  adopted  the  parable  as  His  chosen 
method  of  instruction  was  that  while  His  words  were 
often  perverted  or  misunderstood  owing  either  to  the 
malignity  or  to  the  literalistic  habit  of  mind  of  His 
different  hearers,  His  parabolic  teaching  was  calculated 
to  direct  attention  to  the  correspondence  between  two 
classes  of  facts,  between  the  processes  of  nature  and 
the  operations  of  grace.  It  implied  that  all  the  works 
of  God  are  words,  and  that  nothing  is  unspiritual  or 
void  of  signification  in  a  universe  the  Creator  of  which 
is  a  living  spirit  -. 

A  sacramental  view  of  the  universe,  then,  seems  to 
be  everywhere  presupposed  in  Scripture,  the  visible 


0eio)v  ypcKp&V)  TrdvTes  KCU  ot  dxepatdraroi  ra>i>  TOJ  Adya>  npo 
rives  8e  aurai  ot  evyvwfjioves  KOI  arv0oi  6/xoXoyoOo  i  \M]  eldevai. 

1  de  doc.  ii.  16.    Cp.  T.  Aquinas,  Summa  Theol.  i.  q.  i,  art.  10  :  '  Auctor 
sacrae  scripturae  est  Deus  in  cujus  potestate  est  ut  non  solum  voces  ad 
significandum  accommodet  (quod  etiam  homo  facere  potest)  sed  etiam 
res  ipsas.' 

2  Cp.  Trench,  Notes  on  the  Parables,  Introd.  p.  18.     I  cannot  refrain 
from  quoting  a  striking  statement  of  a  divine  whose  cautious  and  scholarly 
temperament  inclined  him  to  distrust  anything  like  the  play  of  imagination 
in  the  exegesis  of  Scripture.    The  late  Dr.  Hatch  in  his  Hibbert  Lectures, 
pp.  83,  84,  points  out  the  permanent  principle  which  underlies  the  method 
of  mystical  or  allegorical  interpretation.     '  It  is  based,'  he  says,  '  upon 
an  element  in  human  nature  which  is  not  likely  to  pass  away.     Whatever 
be  its  value  in  relation  to  the  literature  of  the  past,  it  is  at  least  the 
expression  in  relation  to  the  present  that  our  lives  are  hedged  round  by 
the  unknown  ;    that  there  is  a  haze  about  both  our  birth  and  our  de- 
parture, and  that  even  the  meaner  facts  of  life  are  linked  to  infinity.' 


4o8      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

creation  being  a  type  of  the  spiritual  world.  Thomas 
Aquinas  indeed  finds  the  rationale  of  different  senses 
in  Scripture  not  in  the  nature  of  the  written  letter,  but 
in  the  concrete  realities  behind  them.  Ipsae  res  signifi- 
catae  per  voces,  he  says,  aliamm  rerum  possunt  esse 
signa  1.  The  Cabbalistic  manipulation  of  the  written 
word  is  not  only  discredited  by  the  stubborn  facts 
of  textual  criticism ;  it  is  based  upon  a  shallow  and 
unphilosophical  view  of  the  nature  of  language.  The 
curiosities  which  it  brings  to  light  are  of  that  unprofit- 
able kind  which  minister  questions  rather  than  godly 
edifying  which  is  in  faith  2. 

A  second  justification  of  mystical  interpretation  is  to 
be  found  in  the  relation  subsisting  between  Judaism 
and  Christianity.  The  new  religion  clearly  has  an 
organic  connexion  and  essential  continuity  with  the 
old.  Both  rest  on  the  same  foundation,  namely,  a  self- 
revelation  of  God  resulting  in  new  religious  experiences 
and  a  new  standard  of  human  duty.  Both  are  dominated 
by  the  idea  of  the  kingdom  of  God  as  the  consumma- 
tion of  history  and  the  goal  towards  which  nature 
tends.  In  both  the  divine  requirement  is  the  same. 
Faith  is  essentially  the  same  quality  in  both  dispensa- 
tions, in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  object-matter  of  faith 
is  not  in  all  respects  identical 3.  Finally,  the  idea  of 
salvation  is  the  same  in  both,  with  the  difference  that 
in  the  Old  Testament  God  condescends  to  moral  im- 
maturity by  embodying  His  promises  in  material  and 
transitory  forms  4.  From  the  unity  of  the  Author  of 

1  Summa,  i.  q.  i,  art.  10.     Cp.  Waterland,  pref.  to  Scripture  Vindicated 
(Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  7) :  'The  words  properly  bear  but  one  sense,  and  that 
one  sense  is  the  literal  one ,'   but  the  thing  expressed  by  the  letter  is 
further  expressive  of  something  sublime  or  spiritual.' 

2  I  Tim.  i.  4 ;  cp.  vi.  4. 

3  Cp.  Riehm,  A  77.  Theologie,  p.  34. 

4  Aug.  de  pecc.  mer.  et   remiss,  i.  53 :    'In   illis    [libris  V.  T.]    quod 
occultatur  sub  velamento  velut  terrenarum  promissionum,  hoc  in  Novo 
Testamento  praedicatione  revelatur.'    Cp.  c.  duas  epp.  Pelag.  iii.  13  :  'Ideo 
in  illo  sunt  promissa  terrena,  in  isto  promissa  coelestia :  quia  et  hoc  ad 
Dei  misericordiam  pertinuit  ne  quisquam  vel  ipsam  terrenam  qualem- 
cumque  felicitatem  nisi  a  Domino  creatore  universitatis  putet  cuiquam 
posse  conferri.' 


vin]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      409 

revelation  follows  the  New  Testament  principle  that 
no  prophecy  is  of  private  interpretation^.  It  has  been 
repeatedly  made  manifest  in  the  course  of  redemptive 
history  that  Scripture  has  successive  applications  which 
correspond  to  different  stages  in  the  work  of  God. 
Spiritual  laws  declared  by  prophecy,  or  set  forth  in 
typical  institutions,  or  in  the  personal  discipline  of 
Hebrew  saints  and  heroes,  were  seen  to  be  con- 
tinuously in  operation,  and  from  time  to  time  working 
themselves  out  afresh.  Accordingly,  what  had  been 
originally  spoken  of  the  chosen  nation,  such  as  the 
passage  Out  of  Egypt  have  I  called  my  son,  found 
a  fresh  and  ideal  fulfilment  in  Him  who  embodied  in 
His  representative  humanity  the  people  from  which, 
as  touching  the  flesh,  He  sprang,  and  who  recapitu- 
lated in  His  own  life  the  experience  of  all  the 
ancient  saints.  And  what  was  truly  accomplished  in 
Him  necessarily  had  a  mystical  reference  also  to 
the  true  spiritual  Israel  of  God  of  which  He  was 
the  founder  and  archetype 2.  Finally,  the  individual 
Christian,  in  so  far  as  he  realizes  his  union  with 
Christ,  discerns  in  the  narrative  of  Israel's  fortunes 
and  in  the  institutions  of  its  polity  or  worship  a  kind 
of  picture,  writ  large,  of  his  own  spiritual  course,  and 
of  the  truths  by  which  he  lives.  He  recognizes 
the  application  of  the  history  to  himself  in  his  own 
religious  experience.  He  finds  that  '  it  is  true  of  him- 
self in  virtue  of  his  relation  to  the  Church,  and  as  one 
member  of  that  redeemed  body3/  Indeed,  the  very 

1  2  Pet.  i.  20. 

2  Valeton,  Christus  und  das  A.  T.  p.  25,  makes  a  striking  remark :  '  Ich 
glaube,  die  Schriften  werden  nie  mit  mehr  unmittelbarer  Anvvendung  auf 
den  Leser  selbst  gelesen  und  durchstudiert  worden   sein   als  von  dem 
Herrn.     Was  nach  Ausweis  der  Schriften  Gott  zu  verschiedenen  Zeiten 
und  auf  mancherlei  Weise  in  und  mit  dem  israelitischen  Volke  gethan 
hat,  an  sich  selbst  sieht  er  es  erst  zur  vollen  Verwirklichung  herangereift ; 
.  .  .  was  Israel  sein  sollte,  Jesus  ist  sich  bewusst  es  wirklich  zu  sein :  er 
ist  der  Messias,  der  Menschensohn,  derjenige,  der  da  kommen  soil, — 
Gottes  Ratschluss  ist  in  ihm  erfiillt.' 

3  This  principle  is  of  course  recognized  by  Augustine  in  his  discussion 
of  the  '  Rules  of  Tichonius ';  see  especially  de  doc.  iii.  34.     Cp.  Jukes,  The 
Mystery  of  the  Kingdom,  pp.  17,  25.    Observe,  the  application  of  Scripture 


4io      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

distinction  between  Israel  after  the  flesh  and  Israel 
after  the  spirit,  between  the  seed  of  Abraham  literally 
understood  and  the  children  of  Abraham  by  promise, 
implies  that  there  is  a  necessary  spiritual  application 
of  the  Old  Testament  to  those  who  constitute  the 
spiritual  Israel l.  What  in  the  letter  belongs  to  the 
ancient  people  can  only  be  figuratively  or  mystically 
applicable  to  the  Church.  That  it  is  so  applicable  is 
warranted  by  the  express  teaching  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment and  attested  by  the  universal  experience  of 
Christians.  The  mystery  of  solidarity  in  the  kingdom 
of  grace  is  the  basis  and  justification  of  the  mystical 
interpretation  of  Scripture.  The  facts  of  redemptive 
history  point  beyond  themselves  in  so  far  as  they 
illustrate  living  laws  of  the  divine  government  and 
self-manifestation  ;  in  so  far  as  they  are  moments  in 
the  forthcoming  of  the  eternal  Word  '  whose  path  is 
and  ever  must  be  one  2.'  If  the  Incarnation  was  indeed 
a  great  '  recapitulation '  of  the  past 3,  the  manifestation 
in  its  fullness  of  a  divine  purpose  predestined  from 
the  beginning,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  actions 
and  experiences  of  ancient  prophets,  saints,  priests, 
martyrs,  and  kings  should  have  been  prophetic ; 
that  in  these  should  have  been  foreshadowed  different 
aspects  of  Christ's  office  and  person.  Such  partial 
and  fragmentary  indication  of  good  things  to  be  fully 
revealed  in  the  future  is  consistent  with  all  that  we 
know  of  the  divine  character  and  methods. 

Again,  the  typical  element  in  the  Old  Testament  dis- 
pensation seems  to  follow  from  the  constancy  of  spiritual 


to  the  individual  soul  seems  to  constitute  the  moral  or  tropological  sense, 
or  'soul'  of  Scripture.  Thus  Orig.  horn.  i.  in  Exod.  §  4  (speaking  of 
Joseph's  history)  says :  '  Sed  et  moralem  in  his  non  omittamus  locum ; 
aedificat  enim  animas  auditorum? 

1  Gal.  iv.   29.     Aug.  enarr.  i.  in  psalm,  xxi.  §   25   explains  '  semen 
Israel'  as  'omnes  ad  novam  vitam  nati,  et  ad  visionem  Dei  reparati.' 

Cp.  Jukes,  The  Mystery  of  the  Kingdom,  p.  18  :  'Whether  it  be  Israel 
of  old,  or  one  of  Israel,  or  Christ,  or  the  Church,  or  the  believer,  each,  if 
faithful  to  his  calling,  is  or  has  been  a  vessel  for  the  manifestation  of  the 
Word  whose  path  is  and  ever  must  be  one.' 

3  Eph.  i.  10. 


vm]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      411 

law  in  the  universe.  The  relation  of  faith  to  God  and 
to  the  facts  of  life  is  essentially  the  same  in  every  age. 
There  are  facts  and  circumstances  in  history  which 
have  a  representative  character,  which  exemplify  the 
operation  of  a  moral  principle  and  are  accordingly 
prophetic 1.  A  particular  spiritual  experience  neces- 
sarily repeats  itself  because  the  needs  and  trials  of 
human  nature  in  successive  generations  remain  con- 
stant and  unchanged,  and  because  God  is  eternally 
self-consistent  in  His  character  and  in  His  dealings 
with  mankind.  And  it  may  be  observed,  in  conclusion, 
that  the  typical  character  of  Israel's  history  corresponds 
to  the  prophetic  character  of  its  religion.  In  a  typical 
transaction,  object,  or  person  a  law  of  the  spiritual 
world  is  to  be  observed  in  actual  operation.  In 
prophecy  the  intellect  of  man,  guided  by  the  divine 
Spirit,  lays  hold  of  the  law  and  brings  it  to  the  light. 
Thus,  while  the  continuity  of  revelation  makes  the 
institutions  and  the  history  of  Israel  actually  typical  or 
symbolic,  it  is  the  office  of  the  prophetic  faculty  to 
exhibit  its  inner  significance.  There  is  every  reason 
a  priori  to  suppose  that  the  sacred  writers  or  compilers 
were  controlled  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  their  selection, 
and  even  in  their  omission  2,  of  particular  incidents  and 
events.  They  were  guided  '  to  record  them  in  such 
a  way  that  over  and  above  the  direct  moral  and 
spiritual  instructiveness  they  should  be  susceptible  of 
a  parabolic  interpretation  too 3.' 

1  Alexander  of  Hales  in  his  Summa  Theologiae  (i.  q.  i,  mem.  i)  makes 
a  striking  remark  :  '  In  sacra  scriptura  ponitur  historia  non  ea  ratione  seu 
fine  ut  significentur  singulares  actus  hominum  significatione  sermonum, 
sed  ut  significentur  universales  actus  et  conditiones  pertinentes  ad  infor- 
mationem    et    contemplationem    divinorum    mysteriorum    significatione 
rerum.  .  .  .  Introducitur  ergo  in  historia  sacrae  scripturae  factum  singulare 
ad  significandum  universale.' 

2  Thus  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  argues  from  the  silence 
of  Scripture  in  vii.  3,  not  surely,  as  Prof.  Hommel  insists,  from  another 
version  of  Genesis,  now  lost.     The  remark  of  Augustine  about  the  Gospel 
narratives  may  be  applied  to  those  of  the  Old  Testament :  '  Tanta  facta 
sunt  quanta  tune  fieri  debuerunt ;  tanta  scripta  sunt  quanta  nunc  legi 
debuerunt '  (serm.  in  dieb.  Pasch.  ccxl). 

3  See  art.  in  Ch.  Quart.  Review,  above  mentioned. 


4 f2      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

Having  dealt  with  these  preliminary  points  we  may 
turn  to  the  consideration  of  the  permanent  function 
which  the  Old  Testament  seems  designed  to  fulfil  in 
the  education  of  Christian  faith.  In  discussing  this 
subject,  we  shall  naturally  bear  in  mind  the  peculiar 
needs  and  circumstances  of  our  own  day. 

i.  The  main  purpose  of  the  Old  Testament  is  to 
be  inferred  from  consideration  of  the  primary  element 
in  our  Lord's  own  teaching.  He  came  into  the 
world  for  the  express  purpose  of  revealing  to  men 
the  mind,  the  character,  and  the  will,  of  Almighty  God. 
He  pointed  men  to  the  Scriptures  as  a  true  source  of 
divine  knowledge.  Their  readiness  to  accept  Himself 
would  be  proportionate  to  the  anticipations  they  had 
already  formed  of  God.  If  they  read  the  ancient 
Scriptures  aright  they  would  be  prepared  for  a  dis- 
closure of  the  divine  life  and  character,  crowning  and 
not  contradicting  the  recorded  revelations  of  the  past. 
Diligent  search  of  the  Scriptures  would  train  and 
develope  certain  preconceptions,  which  were  likely  to 
welcome  the  manifestation  of  the  incarnate  Son.  The 
study  of  Israel's  history  under  the  guidance  of  the 
prophets  would  prepare  the  Hebrew  mind  for  a  revela- 
tion of  grace  transcending,  but  strictly  consistent  with, 
the  wonderful  dealings  of  God  in  the  past. 

In  the  Old  Testament,  then,  we  find  a  revelation  of 
God's  nature  and  character  which  justifies  and  inter- 
prets to  us  our  faith  in  Christ.  The  message  of  the 
Old  Testament,  it  has  been  said,  is  summed  up  in  one 
word — the  word  God1.  A  personal,  holy,  spiritual, 
and  gracious  Being  there  manifests  Himself.  We  can 
study  His  dealings  with  men  in  almost  every  stage  of 
development  and  culture  ;  we  can  watch  Him  educating 
His  elect  people  and  nurturing  the  heathen;  we  see 
Him  as  a  Judge  punishing  sins,  as  a  Father  dis- 
ciplining His  children.  What  is  the  great  truth 
which  the  history  of  Israel  enforces,  and  which  is 
a  necessary  element  in  the  religious  view  of  the  world  ? 

1  G.  A.  Smith,  The  Preaching  of  the  Old  Testament  to  the  Age,  p.  57. 


vm]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      413 

The  answer  to  this  question  is  that  the  Old  Testament 
impresses   upon   us    the    thought    that    in   His   moral 
government  of  the  world  Almighty  God  sets  before 
Himself  one  aim,  that  of  bringing  His  creatures  to  the 
highest  degree  of  perfection  of  which  their  nature  is 
capable.     The_jnp^._..perfection  _jof _man — this  is  the  * 
goal   of  human   history.     In  tKe   divine  view  of  the 
world  all  else  appears  to  be  of  subordinate  importance. 
The  tremendous  discipline   to  which   Israel  was  sub- 
jected is  a  measure  of  the  supreme  place  assigned  in 
the  universe   to    moral    law.      The    Old    Testament 
exhibits   to  us   the  Creator  taking  in  hand  that  one 
among    His    creatures   which    is    capable    of  holding 
communion  with  Him  and  of  wearing  His  image  and 
likeness,  carrying  him  through  all  the  stages  of  an  age- 
long discipline,  and   finally  bringing   His   purpose   to 
accomplishment.      Nor  is  there  anything  perhaps  more 
necessary  in  our  day  than  a  revival  in  men's  minds  of 
a  just  conception  of  the  divine  purpose  which  is  slowly 
working  itself  out  in  national  history.     From  the  Old 
Testament  history  we  learn  what  is  the  meaning  of   . 
the  stern  discipline  of  war,  pestilence,  and  famine,  of  I 
national  distress  and  signal  public  catastrophes,  of  the    / 
vicissitudes   and    shocks    which    darken    the    lives    of  \ 
individual  men.     All  these  things  are  divinely  intended    \ 
either  to  heighten  the  standard  of  national  righteous-    ' 
ness,  or  to  advance  the  work  of  personal  sanctification. 
Nothing  can  more  forcibly  bring  home  this  lesson,  at 
least  to  the  generality  of  men,  than  the  inspired  record 
of  God's  dealings  with  His  people  in  the  time  of  old. 
In  legend  and  allegory,  in  narrative  and  song,  in  the 
homely  wisdom  of  proverbs  and  in  the  inspired  inter- 
pretations  of   history,  the   spirit   of  faith    reads    one 
continuous  lesson  :    This  is  the  will  of  God,  even  your 
sanctification *.     The    passion    for    moral  beauty,   the 
thirst    for  righteousness,  which  fired  the   Puritans  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  was  to  a  great  extent  nourished 
by  the  zealous  study  of  the  Old  Testament ;  and  in 

1  I  Thess.  iv.  3. 


4i4      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

these  days  of  paralyzing  moral  scepticism  and  frequently 
misdirected  moral  energy  it  is  well  to  learn  once  more 
from  its  pages  what  are  the  things  best  worth  living 
for,  and  what  is  the  consummation  on  which  the  Lord 
of  all  the  earth  has  set  His  heart :  namely,  the 
exaltation  of  humanity  into  moral  fellowship  with  the 
divine  life. 

But  the  Old  Testament  does  not  merely  reveal  and 
illustrate  the  aim  of  God's  moral  government ;  it  also 
exhibits  the  methods  and  laws  of  His  action.  God  is 
manifested  as  one  who  bears  with  man  in  his  present 
condition  in  order  to  raise  him  to  a  higher  level. 
God  separates  man  from  the  sphere  of  sin  and  corrup- 
tion in  order  to  make  him  a  co-operating  agent  in  the 
execution  of  a  world-wide  purpose  of  grace  ;  He  uses 
man's  social  instincts  and  tendency  to  corporate  life 
as  the  main  instrument  in  his  moral  development. 
A  kingdom  of  God  is  planted  upon  earth,  a  sphere 
within  which  the  quickening  forces  of  the  divine 
Spirit  visibly  work,  a  centre  of  life  and  light  amid  the 
darkness  of  universal  death.  And  the  Old  Testament 
history  anticipates  and  prefigures  the  fortunes  of  the 
Messianic  kingdom.  For  it  is  the  history  of  an  elect 
people,  of  a  Church  invested  with  a  mission  to  man- 
kind. In  the  story  of  Israel's  lapses  and  revivals, 
distresses  and  failures,  advances  and  conquests,  we 
have  a  divine  commentary  on  *  the  chequered  annals 
of  Christendom  V  The  broad  principles  of  redemptive 
history  do  not  change  with  the  ages,  since  they  reflect 
the  very  being  of  God  and  correspond  to  the  com- 
prehensive unity  of  His  plan  ;  they  manifest  themselves 
anew  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Incarnation,  they  finally 
triumph  in  the  consummation  of  all  things. 

Once  more,  while  the  Old  Testament  history  illustrates 
the  diversity  of  the  means  by  which  the  divine  will  is 
ultimately  accomplished,  we  are  nevertheless  struck 
by  one  special  feature  in  the  narrative,  namely  the 
prominence  of  suffering.  It  has  been  justly  observed 

1  Westcott,  Ep.  to  the  Hebrews,  p.  494. 


vm]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      415 

that  Scripture  is  a  record  of  human  sorrow ;  certainly 
the  Old  Testament  teaches  more  emphatically  than 
any  other  literature  the  moral  necessity  of  suffering  as 
a  factor  in  man's  development  and  in  his  progress 
from  that  which  is  natural  to  that  which  is  spiritual1. 
In  the  culminating  vision  of  prophecy,  the  exilic 
picture  of  the  afflicted  servant  of  Jehovah  bearing  the 
sin  of  his  people,  we  see  disclosed  '  the  innermost  secret 
of  the  divine  way  of  salvation  2.'  The  sober  solemnity 
which  pervades  the  entire  history  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment corresponds  to  the  dominant  aspect  of  human 
life ;  it  is  the  story  of  faith  passing  through  days  of 
warfare  and  trial.  So  too  the  poetry  and  the  wisdom 
of  the  Hebrews  give  utterance  to  the  complaints,  or 
reflect  the  perplexities,  of  righteous  men  suffering 
without  a  cause.  In  every  part  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment the  Hebrew  mind  is  as  it  were  being  prepared 
for  the  appearance  on  the  stage  of  human  life  of  the 
Man  of  sorrows.  The  trials  of  Abraham  and  Isaac,  the 
sorrows  of  Jacob  and  Joseph,  the  discipline  of  Israel 
in  the  wilderness,  the  wrongs  endured  by  the  first  true 
king,  the  persecutions  that  befell  holy  men  of  God — 
psalmists,  prophets,  martyrs,  and  saints  ;  the  afflictions 
of  the  righteous  remnant  in  exile — a  moment's  reflexion 
will  show  us  how  large  a  part  these  played  in  the  slow 
fulfilment  of  the  divine  purpose,  how  constant  an 
element  they  formed  in  the  spiritual  education  of 
mankind.  Man,  like  Joseph,  dreams  of  rule  :  he  is 
sustained  by  the  light  of  the  divine  blessing  which 
whispers  to  him  of  dominion ;  but  it  is  only  by  the 
way  of  sorrow  that  he  attains  that  for  which  he  was 
intended  from  the  first.  In  the  Old  Testament  the 
whole  warfare  of  man  upon  earth  is  set  forth.  The 
law  of  man's  glorification  is  already  clearly  ex- 
hibited :  If  we  suffer  with  him  we  shall  also  reign  with 
him  3. 

Thus    the  study  of  the    Old    Testament  tends  to 

1  i  Cor.  xv.  46.  2  Schultz,  O.  T.  Theology,  vol.  ii.  p.  430. 

3  2  Tim.  ii.  12  ;  cp.  Rom.  viii.  17. 


416      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

deepen  our  impression  of  the  constancy  and  perpetuity 
of  those  great  spiritual  laws  which  govern  and  guide 
the  development  of  mankind.  In  its  fullness  the  divine 
character  makes  itself  known  only  in  the  life  and 
teaching  of  our  Saviour ;  but  there  are  elements  in 
that  character  which  seem  to  emerge,  so  to  speak,  at 
different  intervals  and  on  critical  occasions  in  the 
history  of  Israel :  the  holiness  of  God  revealing  itself 
in  the  promulgation  of  the  moral  law  and  in  the 
ordinances  of  the  levitical  sanctuary ;  His  long- 
suffering  and  readiness  to  pardon  being  manifested  in 
/  His  dealings  with  those  who  provoked  and  disobeyed 
Him  in  the  wilderness,  and  in  the  providential  tender- 
ness with  which  He  bare  and  carried  His  people  all 
the  days  of  old1 ;  while  His  patience  and  tenacity  of 
purpose  is  exhibited  in  the  restoration  of  His  exiled 
people  to  their  own  land,  and  in  the  revival  of  His 
work  in  the  midst  of  a  dreary  waste  of  years  2.  Every 
student  of  the  Old  Testament  can  fill  up  these  outlines 
for  himself;  but  speaking  generally,  the  point  of  chief 
importance  is  that  we  should  regain  and  deepen  the 
sense  of  what  is  most  fundamental  in  the  teaching  of 
the  ancient  Scriptures,  namely  the  reality  of  God's 
eternal  purpose — the  perfection  of  man  ;  the  method 
of  His  action — taking  man  as  he  is  in  order  to  make 
him  what  he  is  capable  of  becoming;  the  means  He 
employs  in  the  execution  of  His  will — the  discipline 
of  suffering.  We  are  to  get  into  the  habit  of  reading 
modern  history  in  the  light  of  the  spiritual  purpose 
revealed  in  Scripture,  and  to  judge  of  movements 
social  and  political  by  their  effects  on  human  character. 
We  are  to  learn  from  the  prophetic  philosophy  of 
history  that  '  the  fates  of  nations  are  conditioned 
by  their  bearing  towards  the  moral  purpose  of 
God  V 

2.  A  second  great  purpose  of  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures  is  comprehensively  described  in  our  Lord's 

1  Isa.  Ixiii.  9.  2  Hab.  iii.  2. 

3  Pfleiderer,  Gifford  Lectures >  vol.  ii.  p.  42. 


VIH]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      417 

declaration  to  the  Jews  :  they  are  they  which  testify  of 
me1.  Christ  in  all  the  varied  aspects  of  His  person 
is  the  final  cause  and  ultimate  explanation  of  the  Old 
Testament,  nor  can  we  understand  even  imperfectly 
what  is  meant  by  His  '  Messianic  self-consciousness ' 
without  its  aid.  Origen  indeed  observes  that  the  very 
proof  of  its  inspiration  lies  in  the  fact  of  Christ's 
advent 2.  Certainly  the  true  character  of  the  ancient 
Scriptures  is  only  manifest  in  the  light  of  the  Incarna- 
tion. A  product  so  vast  and  wonderful  can  only  be 
supposed  to  stand  in  vital  relation  to  some  unique 
event  in  human  history,  for  which  it  prepares  the  way. 
In  this  connexion  it  is  unnecessary  to  do  more  than 
direct  attention  to  the  organic  unity  of  the  Old 
Testament  regarded  as  a  history  of  redemption.  The 
fact  of  this  unity  is  presupposed  in  the  science  of  Old 
Testament  theology,  which  assumes  that  every  element 
and  institution  in  the  discipline  of  the  Hebrew  nation 
had  a  direct  bearing  upon  the  fulfilment  of  a  single 
divine  purpose.  If  the  idea  of  redemption  is  the 
keynote  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  advent  of  a 
Redeemer  is  its  goal  and  consummation.  But  just 
in  proportion  as  the  idea  of  redemption  is  profound 
and  complex,  the  unity  of  aim  that  marks  the  Old 
Testament  implies  an  infinite  variety  in  the  character 
of  its  component  parts.  Jesus  Christ  came  not  to 
destroy  but  to  fulfil  the  teaching  of  the  Old  Testa- 

1  John  v.  39. 

2  de  Princ.  iv.  6.     It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  in  the  early 
Church  the  Old  Testament  was  chiefly  valued  for  apologetic  and  con- 
troversial purposes.     The  argument  from  prophecy  was  '  the  one  formal 
method  of  proof  employed  by  the  first  Christians.     Stanton,  The  Jewish 
and  Christian  Messiah,  p.  176.    The  argument  from  prophecy  has  gained 
in  force  by  being  restated  in  accordance  with  our  wider  critical  know- 
ledge.    In  its  modern  form  it  is  parallel  to  the  argument  from  design, 
laying  less  emphasis  upon  particular  predictions  and  resting  rather  on 
the  broad  general  correspondence  between  prophecy  and  fulfilment.     For 
a    contemptuous    but    somewhat    belated    estimate    of   prophecy,    see 
Mr.  Goldwin  Smith's  recent  Gitesses  at  the  Riddle  of  Existence,  pp.  167 
foil.     The  writers  general  point  of  view  will  be  plain  from  the  following 
extract :   '  The  Messiahship  of  Jesus  is  a  question  with  which  we  need 
practically  concern  ourselves  no  more.     The  Messiah  was  a  dream  of 
the  tribal  pride  of  the  Jew  to  which  ...  we  may  bid  a  long  farewell.' 

E  e 


4i8      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

ment ;  but  His  person  was  so  mysterious,  His  work 
so  many-sided,  that  each  portion  of  the  book  which 
fore-announced  His  coming  may  reasonably  be  sup- 
posed to  have  reference  to  some  aspect  of  His  person 
or  some  element  in  His  work.  Thus  if,  as  St.  Paul 
teaches,  Christ  is  the  second  Adam,  it  is  evident  that 
the  mysterious  narrative  of  man's  origin  in  some  way 
prefigures  the  work  of  the  new  creation  exhibited  in 
the  life  of  the  incarnate  Son.  The  titles  Lamb  of 
God  and  Our  Passover  recall  the  solemn  associations 
connected  with  Israel's  deliverance  from  bondage,  and 
its  formation  into  an  elect  people  of  God.  The  name 
JESUS  points  back  to  the  ministry  and  achievements  of 
Joshua.  The  word  Saviour  recalls  the  memory  of  the 
deliverers  under  whose  auspices  Israel  gained  secure 
possession  of  the  land  of  their  inheritance.  The  name 
David  or  Son  of  David  appropriates  to  Christ  the 
experiences  of  the  first  true  king  and  his  godly  suc- 
cessors on  the  throne ;  in  Christ  the  mystery  of  the 
kingdom  finds  its  fulfilment.  The  title  Messiah 
embraces  the  spiritual  counterpart  of  all  offices  dis- 
charged by  those  on  whom  under  the  old  Law  the 
sacred  unction  had  been  bestowed ;  it  includes  the 
dignity  of  kingship,  and  in  a  subordinate  degree  the 
functions  of  prophecy  and  the  grace  of  priesthood. 
So,  again,  when  our  Lord  refers  to  the  temple  of  his 
body,  or  to  His  blood  as  the  blood  of  the  new  covenant, 
or  to  His  death  as  a  ransom  for  many,  or  to  His 
sacred  flesh  as  meat  indeed,  it  is  obvious  that  He  points 
to  the  entire  sacrificial  system  and  the  very  structure 
of  the  ancient  sanctuary  as  typical  of  Himself.  Finally, 
when  He  refers  to  Himself  as  the  Wisdom  of  God  He 
seems  to  bring  within  the  range  of  the  Messianic 
element  in  Scripture  the  whole  khokmah  literature ; 
while  His  comparison  of  Himself  to  a  Bridegroom 
justifies  the  symbolical  application  of  Solomon's  Song. 
Our  Lord's  teaching  in  fact  suggests  and  implies  much 
more  than  it  explicitly  declares  ;  namely,  that  in  His 
own  person  and  work  all  that  was  limited,  shadowy, 


vm]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      419 

fragmentary,  or  disconnected  in  the  writings  and 
characters  of  the  Old  Testament,  was  harmonized, 
developed,  and  completed.  His  life  and  teaching, 
His  death  and  exaltation,  formed  together  or  singly 
the  key  to  the  true  interpretation  of  Scripture,  and  the 
principle  of  its  unity.  In  narrative,  symbol,  prophecy, 
and  song,  Christians  may  discern  the  outlines  of  His 
living  form  ;  in  every  righteous  hero,  in  every  innocent 
sufferer,  in  every  steadfast  martyr,  in  every  victorious 
king,  in  every  prisoner  of  hope,  in  every  ministering 
priest,  in  every  dispenser  of  blessing,  we  may  see 
Christ  Himself.  In  every  typical  ordinance  some 
aspect  of  His  Messianic  office  is  prefigured,  in  each 
judgment  on  sin  His  coming  is  anticipated,  in  every 
prophet  His  Spirit  speaks,  in  every  conqueror  of 
God's  enemies  He  is  the  victor,  in  every  afflicted 
saint  He  complains,  in  every  godly  king  He  reigns1. 

What  has  just  been  said  suggests  the  further  remark 
that  the  Messianic  quality  of  many  Old  Testament 
passages  depends  on  their  idealistic  character.  It  has 
been  said  that  the  true  justification  of  many  New 
Testament  quotations  from  the  Old  is  simply  the  broad 
principle  that  what  is  ideal  is  Messianic.  Thus  the 
writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  in  his  employ- 
ment of  the  eighth  Psalm,  and  St.  Peter  in  his  reference 
to  the  sixteenth 2,  seem  to  base  their  argument  on 
a  definite  law  of  scriptural  interpretation.  Christian 
teachers  would  doubtless  gradually  accustom  them- 
selves to  read  highly  idealistic  passages  of  Scripture 
in  the  light  of  the  Messianic  expectation,  and  ascribe 
to  them  a  certain  secondary  or  mystical  meaning,  thus 
expanding  and  spiritualizing  their  original  sense.  The 

1  Cp.  Aug.  c.  Faust.  Man.  xix.  31  :  '  Quod  [sc.  regnum  caelorum]  ori 
ejus  etiam  nominandum  servabatur  quern  regem  ad  regendos,  et  sacerdo- 
tem    ad    sanctificandos    fideles    suos    universus   ille    apparatus  Veteris 
Instrument!  in  generationibus,  factis,  dictis,  sacrificiis,  observationibus, 
festivitatibus,  omnibusque  eloquiorum  praeconiis  et  rebus  gestis  et  rerum 
figuris  parturiebat  esse  venturum ;   qui  plenus  gratia  et  veritate  et  ad 
praecepta  facienda  adjuvando   per  gratiam  et   ad   promissa   implenda 
curando  per  veritatem,  venit  legem  non  solvere  sed  adimplere.' 

2  Heb.  ii.  6  foil. ;  Acts  ii.  25  foil. 


E  e  2 


420      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

idealistic  tendency  indeed,  like  other  peculiarities  of 
the  Hebrew  writers,  was  doubtless  ever  under  the 
control  and  guidance  of  the  divine  Spirit  and  was 
made  to  minister  to  His  purposes.  The  prophet  or 
psalmist  was  thus  led  to  use  language  the  full  scope 
and  application  of  which  was  hidden  from  himself,  but 
which  had  a  divinely  intended  reference  to  distant 
events  concealed  in  the  foreknowledge  of  God  l.  This 
habit  of  the  Hebrew  mind  did  not  necessarily  imply 
that  it  spiritualized  the  persons  or  events  which  it 
invested  with  ideal  dignity  or  significance.  On  the 
contrary,  it  delighted  in  concrete  imagery  ;  it  described 
even  spiritual  realities  in  terms  of  the  non-spiritual ;  it 
regarded  the  material  universe  as  the  sphere  of  divine 
self-manifestation ;  it  linked  physical  nature  to  the  lot 
of  man,  and  to  the  purposes  of  God.  And  in  the 
interpretation  of  prophecy  we  have  to  remember  how 
hyperbolical  and  highly-coloured  is  the  symbolism 
used  to  express  or  prefigure  spiritual  truths  or  events. 
The  most  awful  phenomena  of  nature  foreshadow 
solemn  crises  in  the  spiritual  history  of  mankind.  So 
St.  Peter,  describing  the  gift  of  Pentecost,  tells  his 
hearers  that  this  is  that  which  was  spoken  by  the  prophet 
Joel2.  The  pouring  out  of  the  Spirit  was  an  event 
so  momentous  that  it  could  only  be  described  in  terms 
of  fearful  natural  phenomena.  /  will  show  wonders  in 
heaven  above  and  signs  in  the  earth  beneath,  blood  and 
fire  and  vapour  of  smoke.  The  sun  shall  be  turned  into 
darkness  and  the  moon  into  blood  before  that  great  and 
notable  day  of  the  Lord  come.  The  same  general 
principle  of  interpretation,  viz.  that  everything  ideal 

1  The  hyperbolical  and  transcendental  language  of  some  of  the  psalms 
(e.  g.  Ps.  xxii)  seems  dictated  by  a  consciousness  in  the  writer  that  the 
spiritual  principles  discernible  in  the  facts  of  the  present  were  destined 
to  find  a  more  complete  expression  in  the  future.     See  the  article  in  Ch. 
Quart.  Review  already  cited.     Stanton,  The  Jewish  and  the  Christian 
Messiah,  p.  98,  well  remarks :  '  On  the  ground  of  this  divine  intention, 
those  who  start  from  the  full  Christian  idea  of  the  Messiah  are  justified 
in  noting  as  Messianic  every  element  of  thought  in  the  Old  Testament 
which  was  eventually  taken  up  into  the  complete  idea.' 

2  Acts  ii.  1 6  foil. 


vm]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      421 

has  reference  to  the  Messiah  and  His  kingdom,  seems 
to  guide  St.  John's  use  of  Old  Testament  imagery  in 
the  Apocalypse.  It  is,  however,  enough  to  have 
briefly  indicated  a  rule  observed  by  New  Testament 
writers  in  the  Messianic  application  of  prophecy,  which 
is  very  simple  and  comprehensive,  but  which  we  might 
easily  overlook.  It  seems  to  give  us  a  clue  to  the 
freedom  and  boldness  with  which  the  ancient  Scriptures 
are  applied  to  the  person  of  Christ  and  the  fortunes 
of  the  Church.  All  forms  of  nobleness  or  loveliness, 
all  types  of  excellency  or  majesty,  are  seen  in  the  light 
of  the  Incarnation  to  be  only  shadows  of  the  uncreated 
beauty  :  but  the  body  is  of  Christ l.  The  song  of  the 
redeemed  claims  for  Him  all  that  excites  the  wonder 
or  merits  the  praise  of  man  :  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that 
was  slain  to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and 
strength,  and  honour,  and  glory,  and  blessing'2'. 

3.  A  third  great  function  of  the  Old  Testament  is 
that  of  forming  and  training  human  character.  This 
function  it  discharges  partly  by  its  explicit  and  formal 
teaching,  partly  by  presenting  living  patterns  of 
humanity  by  which  we  are  taught  how  to  walk  and  to 
please  God*.  'The  morality  of  the  Old  Testament'  is 
a  phrase  to  be  used  with  discrimination.  There  is  the 
morality  which  God  tolerates  as  the  best  that  can  be 
attained  under  the  rudimentary  conditions  and  circum- 
stances of  those  with  which  He  is  dealing.  There  is 
the  morality  which  He  approves  and  delights  in  because 
it  rises  above  the  average  level  of  the  age  in  which  it 
appears.  There  is  the  morality  at  which  He  aims — 
the  final  or  perfect  morality  which  is  disclosed  in  the 
spotless  life  of  Jesus  Christ.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
is  the  morality  recognized  or  allowed  by  the  standard 
generally  prevalent  at  a  particular  time,  but  retrogres- 
sive in  so  far  as  it  falls  short  of  a  higher  standard 

1  Col.  ii.  17.  2  Rev.  v.  12. 

3  i  Thess.  iv.  i.  See  Aug.  de  doc.  ii.  9  :  '  In  his  omnibus  libris  timentes 
Deum  et  pietate  mansueti  quaerunt  voluntatem  Dei ' ;  iii.  10  :  '  Non  autem 
praecipit  scriptura  nisi  caritatem,  nee  culpat  nisi  cupiditatem,  et  eo  modo 
informat  mores  hominum.' 


422      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

already  acknowledged.  And  it  is  this  which  is  plainly 
described  as  hateful  to  God,  and  as  bringing  down  upon 
men  the  fire  of  His  judgment.  Take  the  great  sin  of 
David  for  instance — a  sin  of  which  it  was  truly  said 
that  it  had  given  great  occasion  to  the  enemies  of  the 
Lord  to  blaspheme^.  The  man  after  God's  own  heart 
falls  into  deeds  which  might  have  been  matters  of 
every-day  occurrence  in  an  ordinary  oriental  court. 
David  acts  as  any  eastern  monarch  might  have  acted 
who  was  not  restrained  by  a  conscience  educated  under 
the  discipline  of  a  recognized  moral  law.  But  in  one 
single  sentence  the  true  character  of  David's  deed  is 
declared — the  thing  that  David  had  done  displeased  the 
Lord'2'.  And  his  subsequent  history  is  the  divine  com- 
mentary on  his  crime  ;  the  sword  never  departing  from 
David's  house,  the  rebellion  of  his  favourite  son  with 
all  its  fatal  consequences,  the  outbreaks  of  lawless 
passion  by  which  the  royal  household  was  subsequently 
defiled,  the  over-clouded  and  sorrow-laden  old  age  of 
the  king  himself.  Thus  even  in  the  historical  narra- 
tives the  eternal  requirement  of  God  for  man  and  His 
thoughts  concerning  human  sin  are  made  abundantly 
manifest.  Augustine  indeed  insists  that  the  sins  of  the 
ancient  saints  of  God  are  described  in  order  to  teach 
us  humility.  '  There  is  not  a  page/  he  declares,  *  in 
the  sacred  books  which  does  not  ring  with  the  truth 
that  God  resisteth  the  prozid,  b^lt  giveth  grace  unto  the 
humble*!  If  evil  is  described,  it  is  described  in  its 
nakedness  and  loathsomeness  ;  if  it  is  denounced  as  by 
the  prophets,  it  is  denounced  in  words  that  burn,  in 
sentences  that  might  well  '  make  mad  the  guilty  and 
appal  the  free';  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  great 
outlines  of  religious  character  and  the  primary  elements 
of  human  duty  are  everywhere  set  forth,  with  a  con- 
tinual tendency  (as  in  the  more  humane  injunctions  of 
the  Law)  to  raise  the  whole  standard  of  morality,  and  to 
encourage  the  growth  of  that  inwardness,  that  purity 

1  2  Sam.  xii.  14.  2  2  Sam.  xi.  27. 

3  de  doc.  iii.  23.     Cp.  Jas.  iv.  6. 


vin]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      423 

of  motive  which  is  the  distinguishing  mark  of  Christian 
goodness. 

In  two  respects  Old  Testament  morality  transcends 
the  ordinary  level  of  pagan  ethics  ;  it  is  theocentric, 
and  it  is  altruistic.  It  is  theocentric :  Thou  shall 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all 
thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  might  *.  This  is  the  funda- 
mental and  regulative  commandment.  As  we  have 
already  noticed,  the  characteristic  feature  in  Israel's 
conception  of  God  was  that  it  gave  vitality  and  sub- 
stance to  the  thought  of  the  divine  personality.  God 
was  a  person  capable  of  relationships  of  love — the  true 
and  adequate  object  of  devotion,  trust,  gratitude,  obedi- 
ence, and  service.  He  was  one  with  whom  and  before 
whom  man  might  walk ;  whom  to  know  was  man's 
glory2,  whom  to  serve  was  his  joy.  How  strange  and 
complete  is  the  contrast  between  such  a  conception  of 
deity  and  those  vague  and  undefined  notions  which 
are  characteristic  of  Semitic  paganism.  The  religion 
of  the  Old  Testament  marks  a  forward  step  in  the 
spiritual  development  of  humanity  which  can  never  be 
retraced.  It  represents  man  as  standing  in  an  intel- 
ligible and  moral  relationship  to  God ;  as  linked  to 
Him  not  by  the  mere  accident  of  birth,  carrying  with 
it  the  obligation  to  perform  correctly  certain  stated 
observances 3,  but  by  community  of  moral  nature. 
For  the  theocentric  idea  of  morality  which  pervades 
the  Old  Testament  corresponds  to  a  theomorphic  view 
of  humanity.  Man  was  created  in  God's  image ;  in 
other  words,  his  very  constitution  made  him  capable  of 
communion  with  God  and  of  progressive  assimilation 
to  Him.  From  the  first  the  Old  Testament  sets 
before  man  not  merely  his  obligations,  but  the  personal 
relationship,  the  tie  of  kinship  to  God,  on  which  they 
rest.  Already  moral  good  presents  itself  to  man  in 
the  shape  of  a  personal  appeal:  Be  ye  holy,  for  I  the 


1  Deut.  vi.  5  ;  x.  12 ;  xi.  I,  &c.  2  Jer.  ix.  24. 

3  Cp.  Robertson  Smith,  The  Religion  of  the  Semites,  pp.  29  foil. 


424      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

Lord  your  God  am  holy  1.  Already  morality  is  suf- 
fused with  emotion  :  the  coldness  of  a  mere  abstraction 
disappears,  and  the  moral  law  is  seen  to  be  the  expres- 
sion, the  very  essence,  of  the  living  personality  behind 
it.  Obligation  is  set  before  man  as  dependent  on  a  tie 
of  vital  relationship  between  persons.  Thus  the  re- 
vealed morality  of  the  Old  Testament  marks  an  epoch 
in  the  history  of  man's  ethical  progress,  inasmuch  as  it 
exhibits  with  absolute  clearness  the  fundamental  cha- 
racteristic of  moral  action.  For  it  has  been  justly  said 
that  *  Morality  begins  with  the  relation  of  person  to 
person,  and  all  moral  government — pre-eminently  the 
government  of  God — is  founded  upon  and  legislates 
for  this  relation  V 

Secondly,  the  morality  of  the  Old  Testament 
is  altruistic.  Its  essential  feature  is  no  longer  the 
self-regarding  performance  of  stated  rites  calculated 
to  secure  the  favour  or  avert  the  anger  of  jealous 
deities,  but  the  fulfilment  of  duty  as  a  member  of  the 
/  human  brotherhood.  A  conspicuous  feature  both  of 
the  Law  and  of  the  prophetic  teaching  is  that  in  both 
great  practical  prominence  is  assigned  to  duty  towards 
one's  neighbour.  It  is  social  righteousness  which  is  pre- 
eminently the  theme  of  the  prophets.  Integrity,  justice, 
faithfulness  in  every  relationship  of  life,  compassion 
for  the  oppressed,  the  friendless,  the  poor,  self-restraint 
towards  an  enemy,  humanity  even  to  animals,  merciful- 
ness in  dealing  with  slaves,  reverence  for  the  marriage 
tie  and  for  the  laws  of  hospitality,  habitual  respect 
for  age  and  station,  fidelity  in  the  matter  of  oaths  and 
promises,  and  strict  administration  of  justice — these 
are  the  distinctive  points  in  Israel's  moral  law ;  and 
the  sum  of  them,  as  St.  Paul  teaches,  is  briefly  compre- 
hended in  this  saying,  namely,  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbour  as  thyself*.  It  is  in  fact  a  sense  of  the 

1  Lev.  xix.  2  ;  xx.  7. 

2  See  Bp.  Ellicott,  The  Being  of  God,  p.  120  note. 

3  Lev.  xix.    17,  18;    cp.   Rom.  xiii.   9.     See   Fairbairn,   Religion  in 
History  and  in  Modern  Life,  lect.  ii.  pp.  123  foil.,  especially  the  admirable 
passage,  pp.  132-134. 


vni]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      425 

dignity  and  worth  of  human  personality  as  made  in 
the  image  of  God  that  underlies  the  moral  precepts  of 
the  Pentateuch  :  and  it  is  in  its  recognition  of  this 
principle  that  the  law  of  the  old  covenant  is  of  per- 
manent and  eternal  validity.  At  the  same  time  the 
prophetic  denunciations  of  hypocrisy,  of  formalism,  and 
of  the  false  externality  that  preferred  ceremonialism  to 
righteousness,  anticipate  those  utterances  of  our  Lord 
in  which  He  distinguishes  between  the  false  and  true 
types  of  goodness.  There  was  much  indeed  in  the 
Old  Testament  system  that  might  foster  the  tendency 
to  serve  God  in  the  anxious  and  timid  spirit  of  a 
servant ;  but  a  corrective  element  was  contained  in 
the  injunction  to  love  God  :  and  Hebrew  saints  and 
psalmists  illustrate  the  power  of  this  love  to  chasten 
and  refine  character,  even  when  moulded  by  the  stern 
discipline  of  the  Law. 

Speaking  generally,  the  characters  delineated  in  the 
Old  Testament  are  marked  by  features  which  give 
them  typical  significance  and  permanent  value  as  ex- 
amples. We  may  admit  that  the  heroic  figures  of 
antiquity  are  idealized,  but  they  are  the  more  valuable 
on  that  account  as  patterns,  the  qualities  ascribed  to 
them  being  precisely  those  which  are  essential  parts  of 
the  noblest  human  goodness — fidelity,  kindness,  self- 
respect,  hospitality,  domestic  affection,  patience  in  trial, 
self-restraint,  disinterestedness1.  These  are  qualities 
which  are  constant  elements  in  religious  character, 
because  they  spring  from  the  root  of  faith  in  a  living 
God,  the  righteous  Lord  who  Loveth  righteousness,  who 
calls  men  to  walk  before  Him  and  to  be  perfect,  who 
delights  in  trustful  obedience,  and  in  that  fidelity  to 
obligations  which  is  the  reflection  of  His  own  unchang- 
ing self-consistency  and  covenant-faithfulness.  Thus 
we  habitually  turn  to  the  Old  Testament  for  lessons  of 
human  duty ;  we  regard  it  as  *  a  family  album  of  the 
saints  of  God  V  '  In  a  certain  sense  they  are  all 

1  Cp.  Driver,  Sermons  on  the  Old  Testament,  pp.  xii,  xiii. 

2  Valeton,  Vergcingliches  und  Ewiges  im  A.  T.  p.  13. 


426      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

types  ;  but  certainly  men  of  flesh  and  blood,  men  in 
whom  we  can  recognize  ourselves,  and  whose  spiritual 
life,  in  spite  of  the  immense  interval  of  place,  time,  and 
circumstances  between  us  and  them,  is  the  same  [in  its 
general  conditions]  as  ours,  and  therefore  can  serve  us 
as  a  mirror1.'  In  a  word,  one  of  the  most  important 
functions  of  the  Old  Testament  is  to  teach  us  a  know- 
ledge of  men  and  of  the  human  heart — its  possibilities 
of  nobleness,  its  strange  self-deceits,  its  variable  hold 
on  moral  law,  its  haunting  sense  of  a  vocation  to  know 
and  love  God. 

4.  Akin  to  the  function  of  the  Old  Testament' 
Scriptures  just  described,  is  the  office  which  it  fulfils 
as  a  manual  of  the  spiritual  life,  profitable  for 
doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction 
in  righteousness :  that  the  man  of  God  may  be  perfect^ 
throughly  furnished  unto  all  good  works2.  The  word 
of  God,  whether  written  or  orally  delivered,  adapts 
itself  to  the  requirements  of  individual  men.  Thus 
it  is  sometimes  described  as  the  food  of  souls — food 
which  is  milk  or  strong  meat  according  to  the  capacity 
of  him  who  feeds  upon  it.  It  claims  to  be  a  lantern 
or  lamp — a  light  of  the  conscience — setting  before 
men,  whether  in  the  incidents  of  personal,  biography 
or  in  the  annals  of  national  life,  the  dealings  of  God 
with  nations  and  with  individual  souls..  It  reveals 
to  them  His  requirement,  it  unveils  His  character, 
it  unfolds  His  judgments,  it  encourages  them  by  the 
splendour  of  His  promises  and  by  the  special  tokens 
of  His  presence.  The  value  of  the  letter  of  the  Old 
Testament  in  this  connexion  is  great ;  it  is,  so  to  speak, 
a  pledge  of  the  continual  providence  which  *  ordereth 
all  things  both  in  heaven  and  earth/  *  Most  precious 
is  the  letter/  says  a  devout  writer,  '  as  showing  .  .  . 
how  the  path  of  lonely  men,  if  they  walk  with  Him, 
their  wells,  and  sheep,  and  feasts,  and  wars,  are  all 
His  interests ;  that  not  a  marriage,  or  birth,  or  death,— 
not  the  weaning  of  a  child,  or  the  dismissal  of  a  maid,— 

1  Valeton,  Vergangliches und Eiviges  im  A.T.p.i$.         2  2  Tim.  iii.  16, 17. 


vm]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      427 

not  the  bargain  for  a  grave,  or  the  wish  respecting 
the  place  of  burial, — but  He  watches  and  directs  it1/ 
The  literal  sense  of  the  Old  Testament  is  indeed 
a  consecration  of  the  natural  life  of  men,  just  as  the 
New  Testament  is  the  witness  of  their  spiritual 
calling  and  destiny.  This  seems  to  be  the  point  of 
Augustine's  observation  that  the  Old  Testament 
belongs  to  the  old  man,  with  which  human  nature 
must  necessarily  begin,  while  the  New  Testament 
concerns  the  new  man,  into  which  human  nature 
ought  to  pass  over  from  its  old  estate 2.  Again,  Scrip- 
ture is  a  mirror — such  is  the  striking  thought  of 
St.  James — a  glass  in  which  the  child  of  God  may 
behold  himself,  not  only  in  his  imperfection  and 
frailty,  but  in  the  ideal  manhood  towards  the  attain- 
ment of  which  he  tends.  In  the  word  he  may,  if 
he  pleases,  ascertain  what  manner  of  man  he  was  in 
the  divine  thought  for  him.  There  he  can  discern 
to  what  he  is  called ;  what  religion  essentially  is — 
the  life  of  ever-growing  friendship  with  Almighty  God ; 
what  is  the  end  of  all  things — the  appropriation  and 
penetration  of  nature  and  humanity  by  the  divine  Spirit. 
Once  more,  to  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  Scripture  is  a  sword :  a  weapon  of  defence 
for  the  spiritual  man  engaged  in  his  inevitable 
conflict  with  ghostly  foes.  So  our  blessed  Lord  used 
the  Old  Testament  in  the  stress  of  His  temptation, 
and  thereby  taught  us  to  do  the  same.  To  Him  it 
was  the  written  record  of  God's  unchanging  will  for 
man,  and  His  thoughts  concerning  him.  To  the  Bible 
viewed  in  this  aspect  St.  Paul's  words  apply:  The 
weapons  of  oiir  warfare  are  not  carnal,  but  mighty 
through  God  to  the  pulling  down  of  strongholds 3.  And 
it  is  to  be  noted  in  passing  that  through  disparage- 

1  Jukes,  The  Types  of  Genesis,  p.  xvi. 

2  Aug.  c.  duas  epp.  Pelag.  iii.  13.  So  Enarr.  i.  in psalm.~xx\.  i,  Augustine 
speaks  of  Christ  as  *  personam  servans  veteris  hominis,  cujus  mortalita- 
tem  portavit.' 

3  2  Cor.  x.  4.     Observe  this  aspect  of  Scripture  is  very  prominent  in 
Cyprian.     See  his  de  orat.  dom.  i ;  epp.  xxxi.  5,  Iviii.  7. 


428      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

ment  or  neglect  of  the  Old  Testament,  men  may  find 
themselves  defenceless  in  the  day  of  strong  temptation 
or  mortal  fear.  The  sword  of  the  Spirit  is  to  be 
grasped  by  habitual  study  of  Scripture,  and  by  really 
putting  it  to  the  proof1. 

In  one  memorable  passage  St.  Paul  indicates  the 
special  character  of  the  support  which  the  study  of  the 
Old  Testament  lends  to  faith.  He  tells  us  that  whatso- 
ever things  were  written  aforetime  were  written  for  our 
learning,  that  we  through  patience  and  comfort  of  the 
scriptures  might  have  hope'2.  When  we  consider  the 
stress  which  our  Lord  and  His  apostles  lay  upon 
the  necessity  of  endurance,  it  is  easy  to  understand 
how  wisely  the  Old  Testament  is  adapted  to  our 
spiritual  needs.  For  it  is  a  book  of  hope,  teaching 
in  every  part  of  it  the  faithfulness  of  God,  and  the 
meaning  and  expediency  of  those  delays  and  trials  by 
which  promised  blessings  are  hindered  or  postponed  a. 
The  Old  Testament  is  the  history  of  a  promise,  the 
fulfilment  of  which  was  earnestly  awaited  anoT  often 
despaired  of  by  those  who  were  its  heirs ;  a  promise 
only  accomplished  under  circumstances  undreamed  of 
and  in  days  when  its  essential  nature  was  well-nigh 
forgotten.  Further,  the  Old  Testament  is  a  history 
of  grace.  It  teaches  the  capacities  of  that  human 
nature~which  God  condescends  to  train  and  discipline. 
It  traces  the  steps  by  which  the  Israel  of  Egypt  and 
the  wilderness  became  the  people  of  the  star  and 
sceptre,  the  holy  nation,  the  kingdom  of  priests,  the 
mother  of  saints,  the  people  prepared  for  the  Lord. 
It  records  miracles  of  national  recovery,  irresistible 
awakenings  of  conscience,  the  continual  overruling 
of  disaster  for  good,  the  regenerating  force  of  personal 
character,  the  healing  influences  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 
In  a  word,  the  Old  Testament  witnesses  to  the 
continual  advance,  even  through  periods  of  fear, 

1  See  Heb.  v.  12;   I  Pet.  ii.  2 ;  2  Pet.  i.  19;  Jas.  i.  25  ;  Eph.  vi.  17; 
John  v.  39. 

*  Rom.  xv.  4.  3  Cp.  Jas.  v.  n. 


vm]     THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY      429 

depression,  and  degeneration,  of  a  victorious  purpose 
of  good  ;  nor  does  it  fail  the  human  spirit  in  its  hours 
of  overwhelming  fear  or  perplexity.  It  is  a  book  of 
hope  because  it  faces  the  anomalies  and  enigmas  of 
life  which  overcloud  and  baffle  so  many  minds.  It 
teaches  us  that  though  we  cannot  understand  the 
ways  of  God,  at  least  He  understands  us.  The 
Psalmist  comforts  himself  by  the  simple  reflection 
that  when  his  spirit  was  in  heaviness  God  knew  his 
path1.  The  problems  of  existence  have  not  been 
essentially  altered  by  the  immense  changes  of  cir- 
cumstance that  part  one  period  of  history  or  one 
stage  of  human  culture  and  experience  from  another. 
But  the  Old  Testament  is  a  pledge  to  us  that  all 
things — our  needs,  our  perplexities,  our  failures,  our 
aspirations,  our  struggles  for  existence,  our  toils  on 
behalf  of  others,  our  joys  and  griefs,  our  hopes  and 
fears — are  naked  and  opened  unto  the  eyes  of  him  with 
whom  we  have  to  do 2. 

Spiritual  edification  then  is  one  important  function 
discharged  by  the  Old  Testament.  It  is  at  once 
a  manual  of  moral  instruction  and  a  book  of  devotion. 
It  teaches  us  how  to  please  God,  and  how  to  approach 
Him.  It  illustrates  the  close  connexion  between 
obedience,  faith,  and  worship.  In  regard  to  this  point 
it  is  instructive  to  mark  how  large  a  place  the  study 
of  the  Law  appears  to  occupy  in  the  thought  of  those 
to  whom  we  owe  some  of  the  deepest  and  most 
spiritual  of  Psalms.  We  learn  from  this  circumstance 
that  the  free  temper  of  religious  devotion  can  only 
have  its  root  in  a  long  and  patient  spiritual  education  : 
that  the  severe  schooling  of  the  will  must  precede 
the  awakening  of  religious  emotion  and  affection. 
It  was  the  discipline  of  the  Law  that  awakened  in 
man's  heart  the  consciousness  of  what  God  really 
was  in  Himself,  and  in  His  relation  to  man.  And 
in  two  respects  the  Psalms  seem  to  embody  the 
entire  spiritual  teaching  of  the  Old  Testament :  first 
1  Ps.  cxlii.  3.  2  Heb.  iv.  13. 


430      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

in  their  recognition  of  the  individuality  of  the  soul, 
of  its  loneliness  in  its  conflict  with  spiritual  enemies 
and  of  its  dignity  as  a  creature  made  by  God 
and  for  God ;  secondly,  in  the  thought  of  the  all- 
sufficiency  of  God,  who  is  to  the  soul  of  man  all  that 
it  needs,  all  that  it  longs  for.  *  The  principle  of 
devotion,'  says  a  writer  on  the  spiritual  life,  'is  that 
God  being  the  one  source  and  the  one  author  of 
holiness,  the  reasonable  creature  ought  to  depend  on 
Him  in  everything  and  be  absolutely  governed  by 
the  Spirit  of  God  V  This  may  indeed  be  described 
as  the  final  lesson  of  the  Old  Testament,  by  which 
it  is  fitted  to  give  expression  to  man's  highest  spiritual 
yearnings.  Its  office  is  not  only  to  confirm  personal 
faith  by  witnessing  to  the  truth  of  God  in  the  fulfil- 
ment of  prophecy 2,  but  to  guide  it  by  continuous 
revelation  of  the  divine  will 3. 

5.  The  Old  Testament  may  be  studied  in  the  next 
place  as  an  instructor  in  social  righteousness4.  It 
exhibits  the  moral  government  of  God  as  attested 
in  His  dealings  with  nations  rather  than  with  indi- 
viduals ;  and  it  was  their  consciousness  of  the  action 
and  presence  of  God  in  history  that  made  the  prophets 
preachers,  not  merely  to  their  own  countrymen,  but 
to  the  world  at  large.  The  study  of  prophecy  cannot 
but  deepen  our  sense  of  the  continuity  of  national 
life,  of  the  reality  of  national  vocation  and  responsi- 
bility, of  the  principle  of  judgment  visibly  at  work  in 
national  history.  Israel's  career,  as  interpreted  by  the 
continuous  commentary  of  prophetism,  obliges  us  to 

1  Grou,  Manual,  &^c.  p.  2. 

2  Cp.  Tert.  Apol.  xx  :    *  Quicquid  agitur,  praenuntiabatur ;    quicquid 
videtur,  audiebatur,  &c.  .  .  .  Idoneum,  opinor,  testimonium    divinitatis 
veritas  divinationis.     Hinc  igitur  apud  nos  futurorum  quoque  fides  tuta 
est,  jam   scilicet   probatorum,   quia   cum  illis  quae  quotidie  probantur, 
praedicebantur.'     So   Aug.  c.  Faust.  Man.  viii.   2 :    '  Non   in    servitute 
facimus  quae  jussa  sunt  ad  nos  praenuntiandos,  sed  in  libertate  legimus 
quae  scripta  sunt  ad  nos  confirmandos.' 

3  Aug.  de  doc.  iii.  i  :  '  Homo  timens  Deum  voluntatem  ejus  in  scripturis 
sanctis  diligenter  inquirit.' 

4  See  G.  A.  Smith,  The  Preaching  of  the  O.  T.  to  the  Age,  pp.  19  foil. 


vm]     THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  AND   CHRISTIANITY  431 

consider  the  light  thrown  upon  social  arrangements 
and  institutions  by  the  revelation  of  the  moral  will  of 
God.  Behold,  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  God  are  upon  the 
sinful  kingdom,  cries  Amos,  and  I  will  destroy  it  from 
off  the  face  of  the  earth1.  It  was  their  hold  upon  law, 
their  inspired  sense  of  the  claims  of  an  objective  moral 
order  embracing  all  nations  in  its  scope,  that  enabled 
the  prophets  to  predict.  It  is  in  their  abhorrence  of 
insincerity,  in  their  consciousness  of  moral  proportion, 
that  they  are  so  uniquely  qualified  to  guide  Christians 
whose  lot  is  cast  amid  the  complex  conditions  of  the 
modern  social  system.  There  is  indeed  significance 
in  the  fact  that  in  spite  of  their  ardent  zeal  for  social 
reform  they  did  not  as  a  rule  take  part  in  political 
life  or  demand  political  reforms.  They  desired,  it 
has  been  justly  said,  not  better  institutions  but  better 
men.  They  were  in  fact  conspicuous  as  religious 
leaders — men  who,  feeling  themselves  commissioned 
to  speak  in  God's  name,  were  deeply  convinced 
that  the  divine  purpose  must  "be  commensurate 
with  human  life,  must  cover  the  whole  field  of  social 
action  and  interest.  They  were  perpetually  rebuking 
that  strange  self-deceit  which  besets  human  nature 
in  every  age — the  supposition  that  the  province  of 
religion  can  be  severed  from  that  of  social  life  and 
duty,  and  that  there  are  departments  which  lie  outside 
the  regulative  influence  of  faith.  The  prophets  were 
the  spokesmen  of  a  righteousness  which  is  everywhere 
valid  ;  they  proclaimed  the  supremacy  of  an  irresistible 
will,  not  to  be  ignored  either  by  men  or  nations  except 
at  their  own  infinite  peril. 

Two  points  are  noticeable  in  the  social  doctrine 
of  the  Old  Testament  regarded  as  a  whole.  First, 
it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  polity  of  ancient  Israel 
is  not  based  on  individualism.  It  has  lately  been 
maintained  that  the  Old  Testament  is  dominated  by 
the  conception  of  collectivism 2,  and  it  is  at  least  true 
that  to  the  prophets  the  nation  and  not  the  individual 

1  Amos  ix.  8.  2  W.  S.  Bruce,  The  Ethics  of  the  O.  T.  p.  22. 


432   THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY     [LECT. 

is  the  recipient  of  promises,  the  possessor  of  cove- 
nantal  status  and  privileges.  Their  tendency  is  to 
individualize  the  nation,  and  to  represent  its  corporate 
vocation  and  responsibility  as  dependent  on  a  quasi- 
personal  relationship  to  Jehovah.  Certainly  the  idea 
of  individual  rights  remained  for  a  long  period  unde- 
veloped. The  highest  prayer  of  the  devout  Israelite 
was  that  he  might  see  the  felicity  of  God's  chosen,  and 
rejoice  in  the  gladness  of  His  people,  and  give  thanks 
with  His  inheritance^.  The  salvation  for  which  he 
looked  was  national  rather  than  personal ;  the  highest 
good  for  which  he  waited  was  a  kingdom,  the  kingdom 
of  God.  The  thought  of  personal  well-being  was 
overshadowed  by  'the  contemplation  of  the  divine 
sovereignty  V  The  sense  of  belonging  to  the  true 
Israel  has  in  the  later  history  of  Judaism  sustained 
individuals  under  the  pressure  of  untold  disasters, 
and  has  perhaps  even  mitigated  the  sense  of  personal 
shortcoming 3.  The  whole  tendency  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  in  harmony  with  the  revelation  of  nature  and 
with  the  social  ideals  now  dawning  upon  us :  its  main 
thought  is  the  comparative  insignificance  of  the  in- 
dividual life  in  relation  to  the  divine  purpose  for 
humanity  as  a  whole.  Secondly,  it  is  evident  that 
the  idea  of  a  spiritual  kingdom  took  deep  root  in  the 
Hebrew  mind,  and  the  conviction  that  no  material 
forces  could  either  help  the  fortunes  of  the  elect 
people,  or  hinder  the  supremacy  of  God's  righteous 
will.  The  contact  of  the  Hebrew  state  with  the  great 
world-powers  was  an  epoch  in  religious  history.  It 
taught  Israel  to  realize  its  own  special  vocation;  it  also 
proved  that  forces  were  at  work  in  the  world  more 
effective  and  enduring  than  even  the  highest  products 
of  human  ambition,  energy,  and  skill.  As  one  after 
another  the  vast  empires  which  had  been  founded  on 
violence  fell  into  decay  and  vanished  from  the  scene, 

1  Ps.  cvi.  5. 

2  Westcott,  Social  Aspects  of  Christianity,  p.  86. 
8  See  Montefiore,  Hibbert  Lectures^  p.  514. 


vin]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY     433 

the  spiritual  leaders  of  the  elect  nation  came  to  under- 
stand that  what  is  eternal  and  heavenly  must  owe  its 
being  to  God ;  that  the  true  kingdom  of  humanity 
must  be  based  not  on  forces  of  this  world — greed, 
self-assertion,  or  the  right  of  the  strongest,  but  on  the 
foundation  of  faith,  justice,  and  truth.  And  certainly 
one  chief  office  of  the  Old  Testament  is  to  teach  the 
modern  mind  to  read  history  aright,  by  showing  what 
are  the  true  factors  that  mould,  sustain,  and  perfect 
human  society;  that  they  are  moral  and  spiritual,  not 
material ;  that  character  is  the  most  powerful  social 
force,  that  courage,  mercy,  and  self-control  are  the 
real  instruments  of  lasting  social  amelioration.  The 
chequered  story  of  Israel's  career  carries  with  it  the 
lesson  that  while  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  built 
up  by  the  natural  energies  of  man,  and  must  inevitably 
*  have  their  day  and  cease  to  be,'  the  kingdom  of  God 
is  the  city  which  hath  foundations,  whose  builder  and 
maker  is  God1.  The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  in  man 
accomplishes  what  the  excellences  and  virtues  of 
nature  cannot  achieve.  The  transfiguration  of  society 
can  only  result  from  the  indwelling  of  God  Himself 
in  individual  souls. 

6.  I  must  be  content  with  a  very  brief  allusion  to 
one  more  function  of  the  Old  Testament,  namely, 
to  assist  us  in  the  right  interpretation  of  the  New  2. 
It  is  an  important  aid  in  tracing  the  history  of 
ideas,  and  in  determining  the  significance  of  parti- 
cular terms.  Augustine  somewhere  observes  that 
a  Christian  ought  to  study  the  prophets  in  order  that 
he  may  not  forget  why  he  believes  3.  It  is  equally 
necessary  to  read  the  Old  Testament  to  gain  an 
intelligent  idea  of  what  we  believe.  The  content  of 
our  faith,  as  distinguished  from  its  form,  is  largely 
revealed  in  the  Old  Testament.  Such  terms  as  the 
Christ  or  the  kingdom  of  God  are  charged  with  the 

1  Heb.  xi.  10. 

2  Cp.  Kirkpatrick,  The  Divine  library  of  the  O.  T.  p.  126. 

3  c.  Faust.  Man.  xiii.  18. 

Ff 


434    THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY    [LECT. 

memories  and  associations  of  a  long  religious  history. 
The  ideas  of '  righteousness/  '  atonement/  '  redemption/ 
*  propitiation/  which  play  so  large  a  part  in  New  Testa- 
ment theology,  have  their  roots  in  an  immense  and 
complicated  system  of  mediation,  apart  from  which  their 
significance  can  only  be  imperfectly  understood.  The 
full  connotation  of  such  a  phrase  as  the  Son  of  God  can 
only  be  ascertained  in  the  light  of  Hebrew  and  Judaistic 
thought  and  feeling.  Nor  must  we  forget  that  there  are 
many  points  of  contact  between  the  language  of  the  New 
Testament  and  the  Talmud — that  vast  '  microcosm/ 
as  it  has  been  called,  which  is  the  most  characteristic 
product  of  post-exilic  Judaism  l.  Some  of  the  leading 
ideas  of  the  New  Covenant  were  *  household  words  ' 
of  Talmudic  Judaism.  *  It  is  the  glory  of  Christianity/ 
says  Emanuel  Deutsch,  *  to  have  carried  those  golden 
germs,  hidden  in  the  schools  and  among  the  *'  silent 
community "  of  tire  learned,  into  the  market  of 
humanity2/  It  is  unnecessary -to  multiply  instances 
in  illustration  of  this  point3.  But  it  is  an  important 
consideration  that  our  estimate  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment revelation  as  a  whole  will  depend  upon  the  idea 
we  have  gained  from  the  Old  Testament  of  the  needs 
and  weaknesses  of  human  nature.  We  have  to  read 
the  New  Testament  in  the  light  of  our  knowledge  of 
Hebrew  modes  of  thought,  and  also  with  a  due  sense 
of  the  cravings  that  needed  satisfaction,  the  sorrows 
that  lacked  assuagement.  Some  of  our  Lord's  own 
utterances,  such  as  the  promise  of  rest  to  the  heavy- 
laden,  or  of  living  water  to  the  thirsting  soul,  or  of  life 
to  the  dead,  or  of  dominion  to  the  meek,  imply  wants  and 
experiences  in  the  spiritual  life  of  His  hearers  which 
need  to  be  patiently  studied  before  the  true  significance 
of  His  words,  who  spake  as  never  man  spake,  can  be 

1  Nicolas,  op.  cit.,  pref.  p.  vii,  says  very  justly :    '  II  importe,   dans 
1'interet  meme  de  la  parfaite  intelligence  de  1'ceuvre  de  Jesus  Christ,  de 
penetrer  le  plus  profondement  qu'il  est  possible  dans  T  histoire  religieuse  et 
morale  du  jitdaisme  imme'diatement  anterieur? 

2  See  his  Literary  Remains  (London,  1874),  P-  27- 

8  See  Valeton,  Vergdngliches  und  Eiviges  .m  A.  T.  pp.  8  foil. 


vin]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY    435 

understood.  Whatever  enables  us  to  understand  the 
historical  conditions  under  which  the  writings  of  the 
Old  Testament  were  produced  gives  us  a  deeper 
insight  into  the  nature  of  New  Testament  ideals,  and 
the  meaning  of  evangelical  faith.  For  if  it  be  true,  as 
Wellhausen  has  said,  that '  the  Gospel  develops  hidden 
impulses  of  the  Old  Testament  Y  it  is  clear  that  any 
real  advance  in  comprehending  the  genius  of  Christi- 
anity depends  to  a  great  extent  upon  more  accurate 
knowledge  of  Hebrew  religion  and  literature  and  also 
of  the  boundless  and  little-explored  field  of  Talmudic 
Judaism  and  Rabbinic  theology.  Closer  acquaintance 
indeed  with  all  pre-Christian  systems  will  heighten 
our  sense  of  the  assimilative  power  of  the  Gospel.  It 
will  reveal  to  us  the  useless  or  corrupt  elements  which 
were  excluded  by  Christianity,  the  forms  which  perished 
because  they  were  rotten,  the  systems  which  could  not 
stand  the  test  of  that  fire  which  Christ  came  to  send 
upon  the  earth 2.  But  it  will  also  make  manifest  the 
truth  and  nobility  of  that  which  the  new  religion 
claimed  as  its  own,  or  used,  and  transfigured  in  the 
using3.  And  here  lies  the  peculiar  value  of  those 
historical  and  critical  studies  which  have  enabled 
us  to  distinguish  between  the  different  elements 
contained  in  early  Christianity — between  ideas  carried 
forward  from  Judaism  and  ideas  transplanted  from 
the  sphere  of  Hellenic  thought.  We  have  learned, 
partially  at  least,  what  elements  Christianity  found 
ready  to  its  hand  in  the  teaching  of  prophets  and 
psalmists,  what  it  owed  to  Alexandria  and  to  Greece, 
and  what  is  due  to  the  work  and  personality  of  its 
Founder4.  Thus  we  shall  come  to  recognize  more 

1  Prolegomena,  p.  509.  2  Luke  xii.  49. 

8  See  a  noble  sermon  of  Mr.  Stopford  Brooke,  Christ  in  Modern  Life, 
no.  iv. 

4  Cp.  Sanday,  The  Oracles  of  God,  serm.  ix.  Valeton,  op.  cit.  p.  9, 
observes  :  'Mit  dem  Christenthum  auch  eine  neue  Sprache  entstanden  ist, 
und  zwar  eine  Sprache,  die  ebensoviel  griechisch  ist  wie  israelitisch. 
Wir  haben  ja  allerdings  jedes  Dogma  nur  in  einer  mehr  oder  minder 
philosophischen  Form,  die  der  griechischen  Welt  entlehnt  ist ;  der 
religiose  Kern  aber  ist  aus  Israel  genommen.' 

F  f  2 


436     THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY   [LECT. 

perfectly  the  inexhaustible  significance  of  the  Catholic 
creed,  and  its  fullness  and  depth  as  an  interpretation 
of  life.  Doubtless  the  criticism  of  the  Old  Testament 
is  a  gift  which  brings  with  it  large  responsibilities  and 
special  anxieties  and  trials.  But  our  gains  are  not  less 
considerable.  If  Christ  is,  as  Irenaeus  expresses  it, 
the  treasure  hid  in  the  field  of  the  ancient  Scriptures  *, 
we  may  expect  to  discover  there  mysteries  which  we 
shall  never  completely  fathom,  to  find,  as  knowledge 
advances,  new  aspects  of  truth  constantly  disclosed,  and 
fresh  beams  of  light  cast  upon  elements  in  Christian  faith 
and  life  which  as  yet  we  only  dimly  apprehend.  The 
historical  study  of  Scripture  reverently  pursued  with 
the  aids  which  modern  research  places  within  our  reach, 
will  certainly  not  evacuate  the  Old  Testament  of 
mystery ;  rather  it  will  make  us  more  modest  in  our 
judgments,  more  humble  in  the  estimation  of  our 
powers.  We  shall  say  with  not  less  conviction  than 
Augustine  himself:  Quidquid  est  in  Scripturis  illis 
altum  et  divinum  est :  inest  omnino  veritas 2. 

My  task  is  now  drawing  to  a  close,  and  I  need  not 
say  much  by  way  of  summary.  In  the  first  lecture 
I  stated  those  presuppositions,  doctrinal  and  critical, 
with  which  the  subject  of  the  lectures  has  been  ap- 
proached. The  general  aim  was  to  show  that  there 
is  a  point  of  view  from  which  the  results  of  criticism, 
so  far  as  they  are  satisfactorily  established,  may  be 
cordially  welcomed.  In  the  second  lecture  we  con- 
sidered generally  those  aspects  of  the  Old  Testament 
which  were  afterwards  discussed  separately.  In  the 
third  we  endeavoured  to  estimate  the  nature  and 
extent  of  the  historical  element  which  pervades  the 
Old  Testament,  regarded  as  a  history  of  man's  redemp- 
tion. Our  conclusions  were  necessarily  somewhat 
general,  but  we  saw  reason  to  suppose  that  in  all 
its  main  outlines  the  traditional  view  of  Israel's  history 
is  not  discredited  by  sound  criticism ;  on  the  other 
hand,  there  appears  to  be  much  more  of  the  subjective 

1  Haer.  iv.  26.  I.  2  Aug.  de  util.  cred.  13. 


vm]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY     437 

element  in  the  history,  much  more  play  of  religious 
feeling  and  imagination,  than  had  been  allowed  for  in 
the  pre-critical  period.  The  fourth  lecture  dealt  with, 
the  self-revelation  of  God  which  accompanied  the 
historical  movement.  We  attempted  to  illustrate  the 
distinctive  features  of  Israel's  religion  regarded  as 
a  progressive  moral  education  and  a  continuous  self- 
manifestation  of  deity.  In  the  fifth  lecture  the  spiritual 
purpose  and  meaning  of  the  Mosaic  dispensation  was 
discussed,  the  traditional  view  of  Israel's  covenantal 
relation  to  Jehovah  considered,  with  special  reference 
to  the  moral  obligations  involved  in  it  and  the  typical 
system  of  worship  by  which  the  covenant-union  was 
maintained.  In  the  sixth  lecture  the  function  of 
prophecy  occupied  our  attention,  the  element  which  it 
contributed  to  Israel's  religious  history,  and  the  nature 
of  the  Messianic  hope  which  it  served  to  keep  alive. 
The  seventh  lecture  dealt  with  the  divine  purpose  for 
the  individual,  and  the  main  elements  contributed  by 
the  Old  Testament  to  the  idea  of  personal  religion. 
At  this  point  the  universalistic  tendency  of  Hebrew 
religion  became  more  apparent ;  we  found  that  its  out- 
look embraced  not  merely  the  interests  of  an  elect 
nation,  but  the  spiritual  needs  and  yearnings  of  universal 
humanity.  In  the  eighth  and  last  lecture  we  have 
considered  what  light  is  thrown  upon  the  Old  Testa- 
ment by  its  employment  in  the  New,  and  the  important 
functions  which  Old  Testament  study  has  to  fulfil  in 
the  present-day  life  of  the  Christian  Church. 

It  seems  advisable  to  conclude  with  two  reflections 
intended  to  reassure  those  who  either  view  the  critical 
movement  with  dismay  and  suspicion,  or  are  tempted 
to  suppose  that  its  results  are  necessarily  hostile  to 
Catholic  Christianity. 

i.  In  the  first  place,  I  trust  it  will  have  appeared 
that  no  Christian  believer  needs  to  cast  away  his  faith 
because  a  new  conception  of  the  Old  Testament 
challenges  his  attention  and  perhaps  commends  itself 
to  his  mature  judgment.  I  have  attempted  to  show 


438     THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

that  a  man  who  believes  in  the  truth  of  historic  Christi- 
anity with  all  his  heart,  and  who  finds  in  it  the  only 
adequate  solution  of  *  the  riddle  of  existence,'  is  not  so 
committed  to  any  traditional  view  of  Hebrew  literature 
as  to  be  precluded  from  revising  it  in  the  light  of 
advancing  knowledge.  To  an  increasing  number  of 
Christian  students  it  appears  that  the  view  of  Israel's 
history  and  religion  provisionally  adopted  in  these 
lectures  immensely  reinforces  the  claim  of  Christianity 
to  be  the  final  or  absolute  religion ;  it  conspicuously 
illustrates  the  profound  axiom  of  St.  Paul,  Howbeit  that 
was  not  first  which  is  spiritual^  but  that  which  is  natural ; 
and  after  ward  that  which  is  spiritual1;  and  it  falls  in  with 
very  much  that  we  have  ascertained  in  other  fields  of 
knowledge  concerning  the  ways  of  divine  wisdom  and 
providence.  Accordingly  the  attempt  has  been  made 
in  these  lectures,  not  so  much  to  support  or  commend 
a  particular  solution  of  the  difficult  problems  connected 
with  Old  Testament  research,  as  to  mediate  between 
opposed,  but  not  mutually  exclusive,  points  of  view,  or 
at  least  to  discriminate  between  what  is  essential  and 
what  non-essential  to  faith.  We  have  seen  that 
a  believer  in  the  divine  Incarnation  has  no  reason  for 
sharing  the  rooted  dislike  of  miracle  and  prophecy,  or 
the  contempt  of  the  idea  of  divine  revelation,  which  is 
sometimes  justly  attributed  to  certain  schools  of  conti- 
nental criticism  2.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  a  thoughtful 
Christian  will  bear  in  mind  that  the  knowledge  neces- 
sary for  forming  a  judgment  on  the  complicated 
questions  raised  by  modern  historical  science  and  the 
trained  judgment  and  true  sense  of  proportion  indis- 
pensable for  duly  appreciating  the  results  of  criticism, 
are  qualities  attainable  by  few.  He  will  also  remember 
that  in  every  age  faith  has  been  tried  not  only  by  the 
direct  attacks  of  its  professed  foes,  but  by  an  enlarge- 
ment of  human  knowledge  which  was  ultimately  destined 
to  enrich  men's  conceptions  of  God.  There  cannot  be 

1  i  Cor.  xv.  46. 

2  Cp.  Stanley  Leathes,  The  Law  in  the  Prophet 's,  p.  271. 


vm]      THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY     439 

mental  growth,  readjustment,  or  self-adaptation  without 
perplexity  and  pain  ;  without  the  removing  of  those  things 
that  are  shaken,  that  those  things  which  cannot  be  shaken 
may  remain 1. 

In  regard  to  the  Old  Testament  particularly  we  shall 
recognize  the  danger  of  using  a  priori  methods,  and  the 
folly  of  insisting  on  hard  and  fast  conditions  as  those 
under  which  alone  inspiration  is  possible.  It  is  suffi- 
ciently manifest  that  our  highly-developed  notions 
respecting  literary  morality,  and  our  scientific  concep- 
tions of  what  history  means,  are  out  of  court  when 
applied  to  the  ancient  Scriptures.  As  Wellhausen 
tersely  remarks  :  '  What  must  have  happened  is  of  less 
consequence  to  know  than  what  actually  took  place  V 
We  shall  have  to  revise  our  notions  of  what  it  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  know.  And  it  is  evident  that  we 
shall  have  to  be  content  with  something  very  far  short 
of  certainty  in  regard  to  some  points  which  we  have 
hitherto  supposed  to  be  indisputable.  Advancing  ex- 
perience will  show  us  how  large  a  part  suspense  of 
judgment  must  play  in  our  present  controversies,  but 
at  the  same  time  it  may  be  safely  maintained  that  the 
matters  likely  to  remain  in  dispute  are,  speaking 
broadly,  neither  many  in  number  nor  of  crucial  import- 
ance. For  after  all,  the  field  which  remains  unaffected, 
or  which,  to  speak  more  accurately,  has  been  thoroughly 
explored  and  illuminated  by  criticism,  is  for  all  practical 
purposes  of  religion  very  extensive.  Necessary  un- 
certainty in  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  earliest  historical 
narratives  does  not  rob  us  of  *  the  revelation  of  God, 
the  writings  of  the  Law,  the  oracles  of  Prophets,  the 
music  of  Psalms,  the  instruction  of  Proverbs,  the  ex- 
perience of  histories3.'  On  the  contrary,  modern 
research  only  reinforces  the  characteristic  teaching  of 
the  Prophets  and  the  Psalmists  ;  it  imparts  new  vivid- 
ness and  clearness  to  what  is  demonstrably  historic, 
while  it  in  no  degree  impairs  the  spiritual  and  edu- 

1  Heb.  xii.  27.  2  Prolegomena,  p.  46. 

3  Bp.  Andre wes,  Devotions  (First  Day). 


440     THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [LECT. 

cational  function  of  those  portions  of  Holy  Writ,  the 
character  of  which  cannot  at  present  be  precisely  deter- 
mined. We  must  not  be  too  impatient  to  draw 
necessary  and  just  distinctions.  We  must  cordially 
acknowledge  our  obligation  as  students  of  God's 
holy  word  to  those  illustrious  scholars,  whether 
English  or  foreign,  whose  learned  labours,  patient 
sagacity,  reverent  insight,  and  trained  judgment  have 
achieved  such  fruitful  and  deeply  interesting  results. 

2.  Those,  however,  who  do  not  feel  the  force 
of  the  appeal  made  by  the  historical  criticism  of 
our  day,  need  to  beware  of  an  exaggerated  or  one- 
sided conception  of  the  function  discharged  by  the 
Bible  as  a  source  of  divine  knowledge.  It  is  un- 
questionable that  one  principal  cause  of  the  suspicion 
with  which  many  devout  persons  regard  the  critical 
movement  is  the  fear  of  anything  that  seems  to 
threaten  or  tamper  with  the  foundations  of  faith.  They 
are  apt  to  speak  of  the  higher  criticism  with  ill-advised 
and  shallow  vehemence  as  'an  assault  on  Christian 
faith.'  But  apart  from  the  vitally  important  duty  of 
making  an  intelligent  distinction  between  the  witness 
of  the  Old  Testament  and  that  of  the  New,  such  per- 
sons ought  to  consider  whether  they  have  not  assigned 
to  Scripture  in  general  a  position  of  inordinate  import- 
ance in  the  system  of  religion.  If  the  Church  of  God 
be  anything,  if  human  reason  and  conscience  be  any- 
thing, if  the  Holy  Ghost  be  a  living  power  in  the  life  of 
redeemed  humanity,  we  must  not  overlook  or  under- 
estimate the  sources  of  divine  knowledge  other  than 
Scripture  which  God  has  placed  within  our  reach. 
The  Church  and  the  Bible  certainly  co-exist  in  the 
world  as  two  great  sources  of  authority,  mutually  cor- 
roborative of  each  other,  and  to  some  extent  mutually 
corrective  of  each  other  1.  Both  of  them  have  a  share 
in  leading  us  to  the  knowledge  of  God  in  which  con- 
sists eternal  life :  but  the  mistake  is  not  uncommonly 
made  of  overlooking  the  true  function  of  either  one  or 

1  Cp.  Forbes,  The  XXXIX  Articles,  p.  95. 


vin]     THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY     441 

the  other.     By  the  teaching  of  the  New  Testament  we 
are  encouraged  to  put  ourselves  under  the  guidance  of 
the  Church  so  far  as  it  extends,  looking  to  it  for  the  form 
or  outline  of  sound  words,  which  it  supplies  to  us  in  the 
Creed.     To  Scripture,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Church 
bids  us  look  as  filling  in  and  giving  substance  to  the 
outline  of  faith  which  we  have  already  received  in  the 
Creed.  But  within  and  beyond  the  Bible  and  the  Church 
there  is  a  guide  of  whom  we  in  practice  think  too  little. 
We  ought  to  trust  to  that  unction  from  the  Holy  One 
which  rests  on  Christians,  unveiling  to  us  as  we  are  able 
to  bear  it  the  inexhaustible  significance  of  our  holy  faith 
and  illuminating  for  us  the  Scriptures  which  enshrine 
it.     *  We  have  a  Lord/  says  Chrysostom,  *  who  loves 
mankind,  and  when  He  sees  us  anxious  and  strongly 
desirous  of  understanding  the  divine  oracles,  He  does 
not  leave  us  destitute  of  ought  besides,  but  straightway 
enlightens  our  understanding,  bestows  that  illumination 
which  proceeds  from  Himself,  and  according  to  His 
benign  wisdom  communicates  all  true  doctrine  to  our 
souls  V     Thus  the  means  which  God  has  placed  within 
our  reach  are  all  to  be  used  in  combination  :  we  are  to 
hear  the  Church,  and  then  to  diligently  search  the 
Scriptures ;   but  above  all,  we  are  to  remember  that 
God  will  give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  Him. 
This  simple  reflection  is  intended  to  reassure  us  in  view 
of  the  great  complexity  of  all  human  questions,  and 
the  obvious  fragmentariness  of  even  the  highest  human 
knowledge.     We  may  be  confident  that  the  Spirit  of 
Truth  will  not  allow  us  to  be  deceived  in  any  essential 
matter  if  we  diligently  ask  Him  to  enlighten  us  and  to 
guide.     Where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty  2. 
It  is  remarkable  that  this   statement  occurs  in  con- 
nexion with  St.  Paul's  complaint  that  a  veil  is  upon 

1  Opera  [ed.  Ben.],  iv.  p.  216.     Cp.  Orig.  horn.  otii.  in  Exod.  §  4  :  '  Non 
solum  studium  adhibendum  est  ad  discendas  literas   sacras,  verum   et 
supplicandum   Domino,   et   diebus  et  noctibus  obsecrandum,  ut  veniat 
Agnus  ex  tribu  Juda,  et  ipse  accipiens  librum  signatum  dignetur  aperire.' 
To  the  same  effect  Aug.  de  doct.  iii.  s.  fin. 

2  2  Cor.  iii.  17. 


442     THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY    [LECT. 

Israel's  heart  in  the  reading  of  the  old  testament. 
That  veil  is  done  away  in  Christ  through  the  power  of 
the  converting  Spirit.  And  we  Christians  need  Origen's 
caution  that  it  is  possible  for  a  veil  to  be  on  our  hearts 
if  we  are  either  negligent  in  the  study  of  Scripture,  or 
if  we  take  no  pains  to  acquire  the  knowledge  necessary 
for  a  true  comprehension  of  its  teaching 1.  We  stand 
over  against  Holy  Scripture,  not  as  literalists,  or  slaves 
of  the  letter,  but  as  children  of  God  guided  by  the 
same  Spirit  who  possessed  and  inspired  the  sacred 
writers.  We  do  not  doubt  the  truth  of  our  Christianity 
because  we  see  in  part,  and  know  only  in  part ;  because 
in  this  world  of  half-lights  and  impenetrable  shadows 
our  knowledge  is  at  best  fragmentary  and  imperfect. 
On  the  same  principle  we  have  no  reason  to  be  dis- 
mayed or  perplexed  at  the  blending  of  human  frailty 
with  the  unearthly  majesty  and  mystery  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. We  have  this  treasure,  the  word  of  God,  in 
earthen  vessels  2 ;  and  while  it  is  a  sign  of  levity  to 
overlook  the  treasure  and  throw  it  away  because  the 
vessels  are  of  earth,  it  is  a  mark  of  narrowness  to 
ignore  the  distinction  between  the  vessels  and  the 
treasure  they  contain.  Just  as  the  remarkable  reli- 
gious revival  of  the  last  half-century  has  enabled  us  to 
realize  the  power  and  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in 
the  public  life  and  active  ministry  of  the  Christian 
Church,  so  questions  respecting  the  inspiration  and 
character  of  the  Bible  remind  us  of  His  continuous 
work  in  the  immediate  guidance  and  edification  of 
individual  souls  3.  An  era  of  difficulties,  mental  and 

1  Orig.  loc.  cit.  '  Manifesto  si  negligenter  audimus,  si  nihil  studii  ad 
eruditionem  et  intelligentiam  conferimus,  non  solum  Legis  et  Prophetarum 
scriptura,  sed  et  Apostolorum  et  Evangeliorum  grandi  nobis  velamine 
tegitur.' 

2  2  Cor.  iv.  7.     For  what  follows  see  some  remarks  of  Frank  quoted  by 
Kohler,  Ober  Berechtigung  der  Kritik  des  A.  T.  pp.  48,  49. 

3  Tyndale,  Works,  vol.  iii.  p.  139  [Parker  Society],  quoted  by  Briggs, 
Biblical  Study,  p.  163,  says:  'For  though  the  Scripture  be  an  outward 
instrument  and  the  preacher  also  to  move  men  to  believe,  yet  the  chief 
and  principal  cause  why  a  man  believeth  or  believeth  not  is  within  ;  that 
is,  the  Spirit  of  God  leadeth  His  children  to  believe.' 


vm]       THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  CHRISTIANITY     443 

spiritual,  is  meant  to  reawaken  in  men  the  spirit  of 
dependence  on  Him  whose  real  presence  in  souls  is 
the  source  of  present  consolation  and  of  unquenchable 
hope  for  the  future.  The  modern  student  may  heartily 
endorse  the  noble  words  of  Origen :  *  We  cannot 
declare  that  anything  in  the  literature  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  otiose  or  superfluous,  even  though  to  some  it 
appears  obscure.  But  our  main  concern  should  be 
this:  to  turn  the  eyes  of  our  mind  to  Him  at  whose 
bidding  these  things  were  written,  and  to  beg  from 
Him  the  capacity  to  understand  the  same  ;  that  whether 
there  be  infirmity  in  our  own  soul,  He  may  heal  us  who 
heals  all  its  sicknesses ;  or  whether  we  be  limited  in 
comprehension,  He  may  be  present  with  us  as  a  Lord 
protecting  His  little  ones,  and  may  so  nurture  us  as  to 
bring  us  to  the  full  stature  of  spiritual  manhood  V 
Yes  ;  the  secret  of  liberty,  of  largeness  of  heart  and  of 
steadfastness  in  the  faith  is  with  Him.  Ye  have  an 
anointing  from  the  Holy  One,  and  ye  know  all  things. 
.  .  .  A  nd  as  for  you,  the  anointing  which  ye  received  of 
him  abideth  in  you,  and  ye  need  not  that  any  one  teach 
you ;  but  as  his  anointing  teacheth  you  concerning  all 
things  and  is  true,  and  is  no  lie,  and  even  as  it  taught 
you,  abide  ye  in  him  2. 

1  Orig.  in  Num.  horn,  xxvii.  I.  2  i  John  ii.  20,  27  (R.  V.  marg.). 


INDEX 


Abraham,    history    of,    ill,    118; 

idealization  of,  125  ;  place  in  the 

thought  of  St.  Paul,  397. 
Achan,  175. 
Adonai,  186,  192. 
Aeschylus,  217. 
Allegorism,  its  employment  in  the 

New  Testament,  392. 
Amos,  teaching  of,  288. 
Andrewes,  Bishop,  quoted,  439. 
Anthropomorphism,       anthropopa- 

thic  expressions,  107,  194. 
Apocalypse,  the,  393,  397,  421. 
Apocalyptic  literature,  317. 
Aquinas,  T.,  quoted,  408. 
Archaeology  and  the   Old   Testa- 
ment, 105. 
Assyria,  282. 
Athanasius,  quoted,  58. 
Atonement,  Day  of,  237,  239,  256. 
Augustine,  quoted,  63,  186,  219, 250, 

343>  393,  4°3»  4°5»  4°7,  422,  427? 

433,  436. 

Baal,  the  name,  193  ;  prophets  of, 
270. 

Baethgen,  in. 

Balaam,  prophecy  of,  298. 

Baruch,  Apocalypse  of,  350. 

Bath  Qol,  the,  316. 

Bible,  the,  its  analogy  to  the  incar- 
nate Word,  1 5  foil. ;  to  nature, 
98  foil. 

Blood,  use  of,  in  sacrifice,  237  foil. ; 
255  foil. 

Briggs,  C,  quoted,  405. 

Browning,  E.,  quoted,  352. 

Browning,  R.,  quoted,  15,  370. 

Bruce,  Dr.  A.,  quoted,  13,  62,  in, 
139,  165,  179,  229,  248,  306,  321, 
381. 

Bruce,  W.  S.,  quoted,  193,  223. 


Burnt-offering,  the,  235,  240  ;  daily, 

241 ;  fulfilled  in  Christ,  253. 
Butler,  Bishop,  165. 


Cabbala,  the,  406. 

Calf- worship,  the,  221. 

Canaanites,  slaughter  of  the,  178. 

Canon  of  the  Old  Testament,  its 
formation,  100,  265  foil. 

Carchemish,  battle  of,  309. 

Catholic,  the  term,  i  foil. 

Channing,  quoted,  133. 

Chewed,  199,  291. 

Cheyne,  Prof.  T.,  quoted,  203,  346. 

CHRIST,  authority  of,  in  relation  to 
the  Old  Testament,  46  foil. ;  sacri- 
fice of,  228, 253  foil.;  on  priesthood 
of,  251;  Hisviewofthe  Old  Testa- 
ment, 381  foil.  ;  His  person  and 
work  the  key  to  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, 396  foil. ;  parabolic  teach- 
ing of,  391,  407. 

Chronicles,  Books  of,  102,  149,  223, 
327,  344,  385  ;  teaching  and  pur- 
port of,  357. 

Chrysostom,  quoted,  441. 

Church,  doctrine  of  the,  51  foil. ; 
relation  to  the  Bible,  441. 

Church,  Dean,  quoted,  81,  118. 

Circumcision,  167,  222. 

Corinthian  Church,  6. 

Cornill,  quoted,  242,  272,  288. 

Covenant,  idea  of  the,  79  foil.,  207 
foil. ;  the  new,  227,  312  foil. 

Covenant,  Book  of  the,  138,  171. 

Creation,  story  of,  57  foil. 

Criticism,  the  higher,  results  of,  33 
foil.  ;  defects  pointed  out  in,  41. 

Cultus,  the  Hebrew,  its  purpose, 
228. 

Cure  de  Canton.  283. 


INDEX 


445 


Dalman,  quoted,  66. 
Daniel,  Book  of,  276,  317,  331. 
Darmesteter,  quoted,  33,  41,  206. 
David,  character  of,  idealized,  127  ; 

reign  of,  299  foil. 
Day  of  Jehovah,  the,  284,  304. 
Death,  Hebrew  conception  of,  336. 
Deborah,  song  of,  155. 
Decalogue,  the,  75,  172,  215  foil. 
Delitzsch,  quoted,  347. 
Deuteronomy,  Book  of,  123,  133, 145, 

169,  173,  219. 
Deutsch,  E.,  quoted,  434. 
Driver,  Prof.,  quoted,  65,  120,  296. 

Ecclesiastes,  Book  of,  190,  347  foil.  ; 

relation  of,   to   the    problem   of 

suffering,  364,  367  foil. 
'El,  'El'Elyon,  183  foil.,  189  foil. 
Election,  the  idea  of,  64  foil. ;  re- 
jected by  Kuenen,  116. 
Elijah,  273. 
'Elilim,  72. 
'Elohim,  183  foil.,  189  foil. ;  applied 

to  King,  302. 
Elohist  writer,  the,  119. 
'El  Shaddai,  185,  191  foil. 
Enoch,  Book  of,  318. 
Esdras,  Fourth  book  of,  76. 
Esther,  Book  of,  330,  356. 
Eucharist,  the,  254,  258  foil. 
Evolution,  the  idea  of,  43. 
Ewald,  quoted,  19,  28,  75,  101. 
Exile,  literary  activity  during  the, 

121 ;  effects  of  the,  310  foil. 
Exodus,  the,  importance  of,  69  foil., 

134;  evidence  of,  94. 
Exodus,  Book  of,  its  teaching  and 

purport,  93  foil.,  138  foil. 
Experience,  function  of  Christian, 

49  foil. 
Ezekiel,  144  ;  teaching  of,  201,  307, 

314,  324,  340;  torah  of,  224,  230. 
Ezra,  266,  326. 
Ezra,  Book  of,  149,  358. 

Fall,  account  of  the,  59  foil. 
Fatherhood  of  God,  204. 
Fire,  use  of,  in  sacrifice,  238,  240. 
Firstborn,  sanctification  of  the,  136, 

222. 

Flood,  the,  60  foil. 
Froude,  Prof.,  quoted,  361. 
Future  life,  Old  Testament  doctrine 

of  a,  334  foil. 


Genesis,  Book  of,  narratives  in  the, 

113  foil.;  value  of,  131. 
Gideon,  155. 
Girdlestone,  quoted,  131. 
Grace,  idea  of,  in  historical  books, 

151. 

Green,  J.  R.,  quoted,  158. 
Grou,  quoted,  430. 

Habakkuk,  309. 

Haggadah,  124,  149,  384,  386  foil. 

Haggai,  314. 

Hagwgrapha,  the,  95,  329  foil. 

Halachah,  384,  386. 

Hebrews,  Epistle  to  the,  225,  227, 
246,  250  foil.,  393. 

Hengstenberg,  quoted,  356. 

Hexateuch,  narratives  of  the,  101. 

Historical  documents  in  the  Old 
Testament,  their  character  and 
value,  102  foil. 

Historical  element  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, 97  foil.,  401  foil. 

Holiness,  idea  of,  in  Old  Testa- 
ment, 72  foil. 

Holocausts,  240. 

Holy  One  of  Israel,  196. 

HOLY  SPIRIT,  the,  in  relation  to  the 
Bible  and  the  Church,  441. 

Hosea,  teaching  of,  200,  290. 

Idealistic  language  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, its  significance,  419. 

Idealization  in  the  Pentateuch,  &c., 
1 19  foil. 

Image  worship,  174. 

Immortality,  see  '  Future  life.' 

Incarnation,  the,  its  relation  to 
Scripture,  12  foil. ;  analogy  sug- 
gested by,  15  foil. 

Individuality,  idea  of,  in  the  Old 
Testament,  90  foil.,  175. 

Inspiration,  meaning  of,  22  foil. ; 
prophetic,  274  foil. 

Irenaeus,  3,  81,  436  ;  quoted,  65, 
1 66,  213,  246. 

Isaac,  sacrifice  of,  177. 

Isaiah,  teaching  of,  292. 

Ishsheh,  234. 

Israel,  early  history  of,  134  ;  social 
condition  of,  in  eighth  century  B.C., 
282. 

Jacob,  the  blessing  of  (Gen.  xlix), 
297. 


44<5 


INDEX 


Jahvch,  Jehovah,  185,  193  foil. ;  his 
character  displayed  in  the  exodus, 
139  ;  attributes  of,  198  foil. 

Jahveh  Tsebaoth,  186,  203. 

James,  St.,  references  of,  to  the  Old 
Testament,  388  ;  view  of  Scrip- 
ture, 427. 

Jashar,  Book  of,  103. 

Jealousy,  the  divine,  200. 

Jehovist  writer,  the,  109,  119. 

Jeremiah,  teaching  of,  307, 313,  323. 

Jeroboam,  154. 

Job)  Book  of,  347,  361  foil. 

Joel,  Book  of,  316. 

John,  St.,  his  use  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, 388,  397. 

Jonah,  Book  of,  292  foil. ;  narrative 

of,  379- 

Joseph,  history  of,  112. 
Josephus,  84. 
Judah,  297. 
Judaism,  316. 
Jude,  St.,  references  of,  to  the  Old 

Testament,  388. 
Judges,  the,  period  of,  155. 
Judges,  Book  of,  102,  147. 
Jukes,  A.,  quoted,  129,  131,  397,  426. 
Justin  Martyr,  30. 

Keim,  quoted,  84. 
Kingdom  of  God,  the,  86  foil. 
Kings,  Books  of,  102,  148. 
Kingship,  Hebrew  idea  of,  86. 
Kittel,  quoted,  132,  140,  273. 
Konig,  205. 

Kuenen,  quoted,  72,  116,  134,  152, 
215,  286. 

Language,  inadequacy  of,  406. 
Law,  the,  its  doctrine  of  retribution, 

343  ;  New  Testament  verdict  on, 

380  foil. 

Legislation,  earliest  Hebrew,  171. 
Liddon,  Dr.,  26. 
Lock,  Prof.  W.,  quoted,  331. 
Lucretius,  quoted,  350. 
Luther,  quoted,  365. 

Magee,  Abp.,  quoted,  10,  22. 
Malachi,  Book  of,  315,  326. 
Manasseh,  reign  of,  308  foil. 
Martensen,  Bishop,  quoted,  60. 
Maurice,  F.,  386. 
Mazzoth,  feast  of,  136. 
Melchizedek,  251. 


Messiah,  the  title,  300. 

Messianic  hope,  82  foil.,  296  foil. 

Micah,  Book  of,  303  foil. 

Midrash,  149,  384. 

Minchah,  234,  241. 

Miracle  in  the  Old  Testament,  61 
foil.,  107  foil. 

Moloch,  176. 

Monolatry,  69. 

Monotheism,  286. 

Montefiore,  C.,  n  ;  quoted,  122, 
145,  174,  204,  215,  327,  328. 

Morality  of  the  Old  Testament,  pro- 
gressive, 165  foil. ;  an  ambiguous 
phrase,  421  foil. ;  features  of  Old 
Testament  ethics,  423  foil. 

Mosaism,  33,  132  ;  its  ethical  ten- 
dency, 138. 

Moses,  prophetic  work  of,  33,  131, 
298  ;  song  of,  137  ;  legislation  of, 
141. 

Mozley,  J.  B.,  quoted,  178,  337,  363. 

Mystical  sense,  the,  405  foil. 

Nabhi,  Nebiim,  272,  274  foil. 

Name  of  God,  182. 

Nature,  analogy  suggested  by,  98 

foil. 

Nehemiah,  326. 
Nehemiah,  Book  of,  149,  330,  358. 

Oehler,  quoted,  218. 

Oettli,  quoted,  78,  79. 

Old  Testament,  various  aspects  of, 
53  foil. ;  employment  of  in  the 
New  Testament,  383  foil. ;  func- 
tions fulfilled  by,  412  foil. ;  its 
final  cause  and  ultimate  explana- 
tion, Christ,  417  ;  social  doctrine 
of,  431  foil. 

Origen,  quoted,  21,  26,  30,223,  225, 
333,  402,  406,  417,  442,  443. 

Origins,  the,  narrative  0f,$7  foil. 

Parables  of  Christ,  the,  391,  407. 
Passover,  the,  136,  222. 
Paterson  Smyth,  quoted,  45,  50. 
Patriarchal  narrative,  109  foil. 
Patriarchs,  the,  no  foil. 
Paul,  St.,  5  foil.,  20 ;  his  use  of  the 

Old  Testament,  388  foil.,  397. 
Peace-offering,  the,  235,   242 ;    its 

significance,  258  foil. 
Pentateuch,  the,  leading  ideas  of, 


INDEX 


447 


93  foil. ;  its  significance  for  Chris- 
tians, 143;  narratives  of  the,  144. 

Persia,  influence  of,  on  Hebrew 
thought,  332. 

Personal  religion  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, 325  foil. 

Personality,  Hebrew  conception  of, 
338  foil. 

Peter,  St.,  his  use  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, 388,  397. 

Pfleiderer,   quoted,   289,  315,   321, 

352- 

Pharisaism,  relation  of,  to  Scripture, 
394  foil. 

Philo,  30. 

Piacular  sacrifice,  232. 

Post-exilic  period,  323  foil. 

Priesthood  of  Christ,  251. 

Priestly  document,  the,  120  foil., 
141. 

Prophecy,  fulfilment  of  in  Christ, 
318  foil. ;  importance  of  studying, 
430  foil. 

Prophetism,  origins  of,  270  foil. 

Prophets,  the,  former  and  latter,  95, 
266. 

Prophets,  Hebrew:  their  attitude 
towards  ritual,  221  ;  their  view  of 
sacrifice,  230;  functions  of  the, 
275  foil. ;  sphere  of  their  activity, 
281  foil.  ;  preachers  of  mono- 
theism, 286  ;  their  philosophy  of 
history,  289  ;  limitations,  306. 

Protevangelium,  the,  296. 

Proverbs,  Book  of,  teaching  on  re- 
tribution, 345. 

Providence,  doctrine  of  a  personal, 
353  foil. 

Psalms,  Book  of,  328  ;  teaching  of 
the,  341  ;  on  retribution,  345  ; 
relation  to  religion,  352,  429 ; 
Psalm  cxix,  375. 

Qorban,  234. 

Religion,  meaning  of,  351. 

Renan,  E.,  quoted,  365. 

Resurrection,  doctrine  of,  in  Old 
Testament,  349. 

Retribution,  Old  Testament  doc- 
trine of,  343. 

Revelation,  the  Old  Testament  a 
record  of,  66  foil.  ;  progressive 
character  of,  162  foil. ;  Hebrew 
idea  of,  187. 


Riehm,  quoted,  167,  229. 
Robertson,  Prof.,  quoted,  157. 
Robertson  Smith,  Prof.,  quoted,  8, 

49,  65,  70,  94,  122,  138,  229,  233, 

242,  283,  334. 

Royalty,  Hebrew  idea  of,  303  foil. 
Ruth,  Book  of,  331,  356. 
Ryle,  Prof.,  quoted,  265. 

Sacrifice,  human,  176. 

Sacrifices,  the  levitical,    227  foil.  ; 

names    of    the,    234;    symbolic 

meaning  of,  250  foil. 
Samson,  story  of,  157. 
Samuel,  272,  281. 
Samuel,  Books  of,  102,  147. 
Sanday,  Prof.,  32. 
Sayce,  Prof.,  quoted,  39. 
Schechter,  quoted,  159. 
Schultz,  H.,  quoted,  23,  25,  71,  82, 

114,  167,  303,  311,  319,  340,  344, 

363,  398. 

Schiirer,  quoted,  386. 
Scripture,  see  f  Bible.3 
Scythians,  the  invasion  of  the,  309. 
Secondary  sense,  see  '  Mystical.' 
Semichah,  the,  236. 
Semitic  religion,  character  of,  182. 
Servant  of  Jehovah,  the,  88,  311. 
Sheol,  336  foil. 
Shewbread,  the,  254. 
Sin-offering,  the,  232,  235,  238  ;  ful- 
filment   of,    in    the    sacrifice    of 

Christ,  255. 
Smith,  Prof.  G.  A.,  130;    quoted, 

1 60. 

Sodh,  the,  385. 
Solomon,  age  of,  346. 
Song  of  Solomon,  the,  355. 
Sophocles,  quoted,  10. 
Spiritual     sense,    the,    397.       Set 

'  Mystical  sense.' 
Stanton,  Prof.,  quoted,  308. 
Stoicism,  92. 
Synagogues,  327. 
Syncretism,  153. 
Syria,  kingdom  of,  282. 

Tabernacle,  the,  120,  226  foil. ;  syi 
bolic  significance  of,  247  foil., 
foil. 

Tacitus,  quoted,  293. 

Talmud,  the,  434. 

Tamid,  241,  253. 


448 


INDEX 


Tatian,  30. 

Temple,   the,    in    prophecy,    315 ; 

worship  of  the  second,  326. 
Teraphim,  113. 
Tertullian,  quoted,  205. 
Testament,   Old,   New  Testament 

view  of  the,  377  foil. 
Theocracy,  84,  140  foil. 
Thomson,  quoted,  322. 
Tor  ah,  213,  222,  279. 
Trespass-offering,  238. 
Types  in  Genesis,  126. 
Typical    interpretation,    244    foil., 

410  foil. 

Unity  of  God,  70  foil. 


Universalism,  288. 

Valeton,  quoted,  267,  425  foil. 

Wars  of  Jehovah,  Book  of  the,  103. 
Wellhausen,  quoted,  14,  86,  87,  90, 

150,  214,  226,  273,  395,  435,  439. 
Westcott,  Bishop,  quoted,  179. 
Wisdom   literature,   the,  329  foil., 

359  foil. 
Wordsworth,  quoted,  4. 

Zebach,  234,  242. 

Zechariah,  Book  of,  312,  315,  318. 

Zephaniah,  309. 

Zerubbabel,  312. 


OXFORD!  HORACE  HART,  PRINTER  TO  THE  UNIVERSITY 


CFJ 


CO